My practice happens to see quite a variety of ethnic rhinoplasty patients on a regular basis. I would say that the two most common issues I see in ethnic rhinoplasty patients are insufficient bridge height and excessively wide nostrils. These particular case example of ethnic rhinoplasty highlights the latter issue – an excessively wide nasal base in an African American female patient seeking rhinoplasty. In this particular case, this patient required nasal base reduction as part of her nasal reshaping procedure. This was done by removing a portion of her nasal base using a technique called wedge excision. This was done of both sides to reduce the flare component that can easily be appreciated on the base views noted below. The incisions in this case were placed at the junction of the nose and upper lip. As you can see from her postoperative photo shown, this incision heals very nicely to the point of being barely perceptible to the naked eye. Overall, notice how her nostrils now appear less flared and the excessive width has been successfully addressed. More importantly, notice how her nose still looks quite natural with maintenance of her ethnic facial proportions.
