This female from San Diego consulted with Dr. Hilinski to have her bulbous Nasal tip reshaped. This is one of the most common types of rhinoplasty that Dr. Hilinski performs – and one of the many reasons he has such a widespread reputation as an expert in rhinoplasty surgery. If you look at her nose from the frontal view you can easily appreciate how the tip of her nose looks more rounded – particularly on her left side.

Dr. Hilinski recommended an open rhinoplasty to reshape the tip of her nose. Upon opening the nose, he could readily see why her nasal tip appeared the way it did. The actual photos of her nose taken during the surgery are shown to the right. The Cartilage was quite rounded on both sides. But you ca see how her left side was especially bulbous in appearance, which accounted for the asymmetry seen on her frontal view before the surgery.

Dr. Hilinski opted to use a technique called lateral crural underlay grafting in order to try and make her nasal tip look less bulbous. This involved separating the cartilage from the underlying soft tissue. In doing so, he was able to place a straighter, stiff piece of cartilage under the area. The goal of this was to ‘splint’ her native, rounded cartilage to become straighter and more linear. The two pieces of cartilage (her native rounded segment and the graft) were sewn together to become one unit, which eventually would make up her new nasal tip. The photo of her left nasal tip being dissected during the surgery is shown here. The surgical instruments are tenting the cartilage upward. You can literally see right through the area under this arch. It is in this space that Dr. Hilinski placed the cartilage graft that would ‘pull’ her native, bulbous shape into a straighter, more linear contour.

Results of her rhinoplasty are shown here where you can see how the nose looks more refined and defined – with less of a bulbous, rounded nasal tip shape. The overall size of her nasal tip is also smaller – a reflection of the narrowing that Dr. Hilinski performed during her surgery. And she still looks natural – as if no surgery was ever done to her nose.