The Importance of Nasal Skin in Rhinoplasty

Pope Plastic Surgery Center - ASPS Member Surgeon

In Florida, cosmetic rhinoplasty is a desired and highly popular procedure. Cosmetic rhinoplasty can go a long way to improve the size and contour of the nose.

Nasal shape is governed largely by the size and shape of the underlying nasal skeleton. Due to this, cosmetic rhinoplasty is largely directed at the modification of underlying skeletal contour in order to achieve a more desirable external appearance. However, as the skeletal framework is covered by skin and subcutaneous tissues such as muscle and fat, the shape of the raw nasal skeleton has very little resemblance to the familiar external appearance of the nose. The overlying skin serves to smooth, soften, conceal and reshape the skeletal framework and since it impacts some areas more than others, the transforming effects of the skin need to be factored into each skeletal modification to ensure the desired nasal contour after the surgery. While the skin itself is not often modified during cosmetic rhinoplasty Florida, the surgical importance of the external ‘skin soft tissue cover’ cannot be underestimated.

An important surgical characteristic of the nasal skin is its overall thickness. Nasal skin that is neither very thick nor very thin is by far most amenable to cosmetic rhinoplasty.

If the patient has an ultra thin skin, the incision marks tend to heal promptly with minimal scarring and surgical swelling but this skin type may not conceal the imperfections in the underlying skeletal framework. This is why the greatest emphasis during cosmetic rhinoplasty for people with very thin nasal skin, is on achieving a flawlessly smooth and sturdy skeletal framework. If this is not possible beyond a certain limit, the thickness of the skin can be artificially increased to conceal the underlying skeletal imperfections in a better way. A cosmetic surgeon can thicken nasal skin in some patients by using subcutaneous blanket grafts fashioned from living dermis, fascia or perichondrium but the graft survival needs a healthy cutaneous blood supply.

At Pope Plastic Surgery, board-certified cosmetic and revisionist surgeon, Dr. George Pope uses the most advanced and effective techniques for cosmetic rhinoplasty. The individual requirements of different patients are fully understood before selecting an optimum technique for the surgery. Pope Plastic Surgery has state of the art facilities for different other cosmetic surgeries and the in house OASIS surgical suite offers a relaxing environment for all patients.

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