Introduction

Male rhinoplasty is becoming increasingly common with many men realising that they don’t have to put up with having a nose that is unsightly or that they can’t breathe through.

Indications

The reasons for a male having a rhinoplasty are many and include the following:

• Unhappy with the appearance of the nose.
• Previous broken nose.
• Unable to breathe through the nose.

Men often have had trauma to their nose, which results in them having a higher degree of problems with breathing through the nose. This trauma is commonly a result of sport. Associated with this trauma comes the obvious changes in the appearance of the nose. As a general rule, it is recommended that you stop playing contact sports before having a rhinoplasty performed.

Before having a rhinoplasty, it is important to establish what the goals of the operation will be. Common goals of male rhinoplasty include:

• Straighten a bent nose.
• Remove a large nasal hump (Dorsal hump).
• Tip refinement.
• Improve breathing through the nose.

Dr Robinson believes that the true art of male rhinoplasty is to give a patient an operation that is not obvious. Dr Robinson prides himself on making changes with the nose that are subtle to the casual observer. This allows men to have a rhinoplasty without drawing attention to themselves or their nose – often referred to as “BBQ credibility”. Dr Robinson has operated on many patients who have the operation and people can’t tell what they have had done but just say that they look better.

Procedure

Straightening the bent nose

Straightening the nose is a very common request for a male rhinoplasty. Most men have some degree of bend in their nose, which may be very obvious. Some men have broken their nose multiple times, which is the cause of the bend in the nose. Another cause of having a bent nose is that the nose has grown that way. It is possible that other family members also have a similar bend in their nose.

Straightening the nose is different for each patient and Dr Robinson will tailor the operation to suit your needs. Dr Robinson has given multiple lectures to his society in relation to how to straighten a bent nose and regularly teaches training doctors how to perform this procedure.

The general steps of the operation include:

• Combination osteotomies to refracture the nasal bones.
• Mobilise the nasal bones to a straighter position.
• Septoplasty (Straighten cartilage in the middle of the nose which separates the left and right nostrils).
• Cartilage harvest for grafts (Utilise rib grafting if required).
• Structural grafts for supporting the nose.
• Bilateral turbinoplasty (Decrease scrolls of tissue inside the nose).
• Refine the tip to be straighter.
• Hump Reduction.

Dorsal hump reduction

A large hump on the top of your nose is called a dorsal hump. Almost everyone has a dorsal hump to some degree. Many men feel that their dorsal hump is too large and detracts from the rest of their face. A large dorsal hump was classically called a roman nose. Large dorsal humps can also be made more obvious with multiple fractures of the nose.

Removing a dorsal hump is called Hump Reduction. Hump reduction used to involve giving patients a ski jump nose, which is definitely not what the average male wants. Males typically want to have a hump reduction, reducing the prominence of their nose but maintaining their “BBQ credibility”. The goal of the hump reduction is to reduce the hump but maintain a natural-looking nose. Dr Robinson has had advanced fellowship training in rhinoplasty and prides himself on performing natural-looking hump reduction.

Dr Robinson can pre-operatively generate a modified image of your nose from the side profile. This is referred to as image morphing. By tailoring the reduction of the hump – and / or refinement of the tip if required the nose can be modified in software to suit your preferences. The steps of the operation vary between patients but in general, involve the following:

• Tailored hump reduction.
• Combination osteotomies to narrow nose if required.
• Septoplasty (Straighten cartilage between right and left nostrils).
• Cartilage harvest.
• Structural cartilage graft placement to provide support to the nose.
• Bilateral turbinoplasty (Decrease scrolls of tissue inside nose).
• Refine tip if required.

There are several examples of males who have had a hump reduction in the Galleries.

Tip Refinement

Men seek to have the tip of their nose refined so that it doesn’t detract from the rest of their face. A large or twisted tip can be very obvious and disfiguring.

Tip refinement is a true art form, which needs to be tailored to the individual. Historically patients would have a tip refinement procedure, which involved removal of all the cartilage under the skin. This would look good for a few months until the skin started to sag, and the end of the patient’s nose would take on the resemblance of a sultana. Thankfully this is no longer done.

The art of tip refinement is in decreasing the prominence of the tip of the nose without destroying the structural support of the nose. Men are very aware that they don’t want to have a small petite nose and Dr Robinson has had advanced fellowship training in how to refine the tip of the nose whilst ensuring that it is not too small for your face.

The techniques used in tip refinement in male rhinoplasty vary significantly between patients. Some techniques that may be used include the following:

• Lateral crural turn in flaps.
• Lateral crural repositioning.
• Lateral crural strut grafts.
• Dome division.
• Lateral crural steal procedures.
• Lateral crural overlap.
• Lipset procedures.
• Tension tip procedures.
• Articulated rim grafts.
• Domal and cap grafting techniques.
• Tension on tip / lateral crural tensioning.

Gallery

You can view before and after patient photos in the Male Rhinoplasty Gallery.

Related Information

Broad Nose
Blocked Nose
Broken Nose
Crooked Nose

To discuss if male rhinoplasty is recommended for you, please make an appointment with Dr Dan Robinson.