Rhinoplasty Korea

The lady in below photos visited my clinic for rhinoplasty. She wanted to have more feminine nose instead of her muscline nose. She had a long nose with slight bump on the dorsum, overprojected, slightly bulbous and droopy tip, and slighly wide dorsum.  Surgery was focused on creating more feminine look: hump removal, narrowing the bony dorsum with osteotomies, tip volume reduction, decreasing tip projection, and slight cephalic rotation.  Photos taken 2 weeks after surgery (because she returnd back to her country after surgery) shows changes on the dorsum and the tip. Dorsum became slender with creation of smooth brow-tip aesthetic line. Tip was refined with volume reduction, slight underprojection, and cephalic rotation. Although the changes are not radical, her nose looks more feminine.

Most of the patients who seek rhinoplasty want a natural looking, yet charming nose. How do you define a natural looking nose? Ethnicity, cultural background, facial shape, height, and especially patient's wish are all considered to define a 'natural look'. Doral height and width, profile shape, starting point of the nose, tip shape and volume, tip rotation angle, columelllar show, alar base shape... These are all considered to make a natural looking nose. So 'natural' does not necessarily mean a mediocre, plain, and not charming nose. It looks normal at a glance and does not draw any attention. However, if you closely look at the nose, it is harmonious with the face, yet every detail of the nose is alive! For surgical results, the most wonderful compliment that I hear is: "Hey! you look different recently. You look more charming, but I don't know what has been changed in your face!"  

Tip surgery becomes more popular in Asian patients. To overcome low and bulbous tip, many surgeons use a lot of techniques to modify the tip. One of the most common tip elevation techniuqes is septal extension graft. In this technique, cartilage graft on the caudal septum is used to support the new tip position. The advantage of this technique, when properly used, is stable and enduring tip modification. Disadvantages are stiff tip and possible nasal obstruction due to twisted caudal septum. In Asian rhinoplasties, I often see an overly projected tip. Not only this pinocchio style nose gives unpleasant look, but also it causes too much tension and pain on the tip. Often it also causes nasal obstruction because the caudal septum twists due to skin pressure. Modest change harmonious with the elevated dorsum gives a natural look of the tip.