Because the nose is three-dimensional, it requires internal support in various areas. Some supports can come from synthetic materials like Silicone or Gortex. But, in most cases, your body’s own cartilage taken from the septum, (the thin wall separating your two nostrils) the ear or the ribs are best.
Structural grafts are used for support — as in a pinched tip – or when a bridge is too thin and affecting the patient’s breathing. Contour grafts help make the outside of the nose smoother or to change the shape of the nasal tip.
Cartilage donations are carefully shaped and almost always very small. The grafts replace weakened places in the nose or replaces cartilage that has been damaged or taken out in previous nasal surgeries. In other cases, cartilage donations can be used to build up a small nose or a nose that has a flattened bridge, something that is common to many ethnic rhinoplasties.
Other types of nasal grafts include:
- Shield grafts: projects and defines the nasal tip
- Spreader “ : help make the nose wider, improve breathing and gets rid of a pinched nose look
- Columellar strut: supports and straightens a nasal tip. Also used to increase projection, or how far a nose sticks out from the face
- Alar rim graft: helps stop pinched nostrils and improves nostril shape
- Dorsal onlay graft: repairs the scooped out nose or the nose in which too much tissue was removed in prior surgery
There are other cases in which a nasal graft can’t help.
For instance, when a nose is severley twisted, a procedure known as Osteotomy is used; a nasal bone is shortened, lengthened or changed in alignment to the nasal pyramid so the nosse can be rebuilt to allow for healthy breathing and to be a more attractive, natural nose for that patient.
But any graft placement requires a Master Surgeon who has spent decades operating on noses and then watching how they heal over time to know what size graft is needed and where.