Flared Nostrils and a Wide Nasal Tip, How Can They Be Corrected?

A large or bulbous nose can look heavy and pull attention to the middle of the face, so eyes and lips that are already attractive can go unnoticed because attention goes to the large, flared tip. Some people with a flared tip also have large nostrils, because the tip is wide and upturned.

How to Tell If Your Nasal Tip Is Flared

• the nasal tip is wider than the inner corners of your eyes, and your nostrils show clearly when you make facial expressions
• the soft tissue of the tip can be pulled a lot, a trait inherited in many people of Asian descent

Ways to Reshape a Flared Nasal Tip

Correcting a Flared Tip Without Surgery

Botulinum toxin type A injections: suitable for a mildly to moderately flared tip.
Thread lift: suitable for people with a flared tip and little nasal tissue. Dissolvable medical threads are inserted along the nasal bridge to add height.
The drawback of a thread lift for the nose is that if you want to change the shape, you need to wait for the threads to dissolve, or the surgeon has to remove them, which makes correction more complicated.

Correcting a Flared Tip With Surgery

1. alar base reduction: reduces the size of the alae and rebalances the proportions of the face. Read more in alar base reduction without augmentation
2. structural correction with rib cartilage: for when you want rhinoplasty or a change of nose shape, suited to people with a thick nasal tip and plenty of nasal tissue who want a higher, slimmer and longer shape

Who Is Structural Correction With Rib Cartilage Suitable For?

1. people who have had several nose revisions that left the nose misshapen or its structure damaged, or who have had inflammation, infection or a reaction to a foreign material
2. people with a very short nasal tip and little nasal tissue who want a higher nose with a slim, long tip
3. people with a thick nasal tip and plenty of nasal tissue who want a higher nose with a slim, long tip
4. people whose ear cartilage is not enough for structural correction with septal extension, so rib cartilage is used instead
5. people with a normal nose who want as much tip projection as their tissue allows, with a lower chance of implant extrusion over the long term

What to Know Before Choosing Structural Correction With Rib Cartilage

1. a general anaesthetic is given first by an anaesthetist
2. surgery takes about 3 to 6 hours (depending on each person’s nose structure)
3. the open technique lets the surgeon adjust the structure inside the nose, making correction easier
4. recovery takes 1 to 2 weeks
5. the rib incision is small, 1cm to 3cm
6. your own tissue is used, so there is no foreign material in the nasal tip, which lowers the chance of extrusion or a crooked or tilted nose
7. there are incisions in 2 places, at the front of the nose and on the ribs under the right breast fold

Structural correction must be done by a surgeon with specific experience in the technique. However, reducing the alae or a flared tip with liquid injections, a thread lift or alar base reduction needs careful thought, because changing or correcting the nose shape later may also cause side effects. Read more in why a projected tip can thin the skin