Dr. Serhan Derin, born in 1982, is a seasoned ENT specialist who graduated from Ankara University School of Medicine. He completed his residency at Kocaeli University in 2010. Dr. Derin is a highly skilled surgeon specializing in functional and cosmetic nose surgeries, including Primary Rhinoplasty, Revision Rhinoplasty, Ethnic Rhinoplasty, Septoplasty, Septorhinoplasty, Nasal Valve Surgery, and Sinus Surgery.
- Introduction: Ethnic rhinoplasty
- Part 1: What is ethnic rhinoplasty? (you’re reading this)
- Part 2: African American ethnic rhinoplasty
- Part 3: Asian rhinoplasty
- Part 4: Hispanic rhinoplasty
- Part 5: Middle Eastern rhinoplasty
- Part 6: Wide nose ethnic rhinoplasty
- Part 7: Ethnic rhinoplasty cost
- Part 8: Ethnic rhinoplasty in Turkey
Part 1: What is ethnic rhinoplasty?
Welcome to the first part of our guide on ethnic rhinoplasty.
We will discuss here what is ethnic rhinoplasty.
You’re thinking of getting a rhinoplasty and wondering what is an ethnic rhinoplasty? Are you looking for a way to improve the appearance of your nose while still keeping your unique cultural identity? If so, ethnic rhinoplasty may be the perfect option for you! This type of plastic surgery is specially designed for people of non-Caucasian backgrounds, and the goal is to create a nose that looks natural and fits well with your face and cultural background.
The common approaches in traditional nose surgeries are not enough for people of every ethnic background. They result in unsatisfied patients and revisions for different ethnicities. To make the changes more unique and customized to the wishes of patients, ethnic rhinoplasty is performed. According to the American Society of Plastic Surgeons, ethnic rhinoplasty procedures have increased by nearly 15% from 2015 to 2019.
Well, what is ethnic rhinoplasty, you may ask? Let’s take a closer look!
What is ethnic nose surgery?
Ethnic rhinoplasty is a type of plastic surgery designed to enhance the unique features and concerns of people of non-Caucasian backgrounds, including African, Asian, Middle Eastern and Hispanic rhinoplasty. The goal is to improve the appearance of the nose while preserving cultural identity and ethnicity. The procedure is personalized to each patient, taking into account cultural background and desired outcome. The result is a nose that looks natural and fits the face and cultural background.
With the help of years of experience in the field, surgeons can bring about natural beauty inside you. In ethnic rhinoplasty, they do that by reshaping the nasal bridge, defining the nasal tip, and augmenting or reducing your nose.
The procedures used in ethnic nose surgery are improved versions of traditional rhinoplasty. The use of cartilage grafting, and narrowing down the bridge or nostrils are improved techniques, which are unique to this field. And this brings us to the next question. Even with medical tourism ethnic rhinoplasty has come a long way.
What makes ethnic rhinoplasty surgery different?
Overall, ethnic rhinoplasty is different from a normal rhinoplasty because it’s a specialized procedure that requires a careful and thoughtful approach, and a deep understanding of the patient’s cultural heritage and anatomy.
The main differences taken into consideration are:
- Cultural Considerations
- Unique Anatomy
- Careful Modification
- Respect for Heritage
- Customized Approach
Cultural Considerations: Ethnic rhinoplasty takes into account the patient’s cultural background and the desired outcome to create a result that complements the individual’s overall facial features and preserves their cultural identity.
Unique Anatomy: Different ethnic groups have unique anatomy and skin characteristics, such as thicker skin, a wider nasal bridge, or a flatter profile, which are taken into account during ethnic rhinoplasty to create a natural and harmonious result.
Careful Modification: Ethnic rhinoplasty is typically a more subtle procedure, with a focus on preserving the individual’s natural features and cultural identity. The goal is to improve the appearance of the nose without making it look unnatural or out of place.
Respect for Heritage: Ethnic rhinoplasty is a delicate procedure that requires a deep understanding and respect for the patient’s cultural heritage. The surgeon must be aware of the cultural nuances and the patient’s specific goals to create a result that honors their heritage.
Customized Approach: Ethnic rhinoplasty is a highly customized procedure, tailored to each individual’s specific needs, goals, and cultural background. The result is a nose that looks natural and fits the patient’s face and cultural identity.
What are the subtypes of ethnic rhinoplasty?
In ethnic rhinoplasty, there are some common procedures performed for every ethnicity. The general rule is to preserve the individual characteristics of each patient, however, the techniques, methods, and demands are all different than each other. If you’re looking for an answer to your question what is ethnic rhinoplasty and is there a type to fit my needs, the answer can be listed as follows:
- African American rhinoplasty: African ethnic rhinoplasty focuses on the challenges unique to the nasal features of people of African descent.
- Asian rhinoplasty: A tailored down approach for Asian people is a must to preserve their ethnic appearance.
- Hispanic rhinoplasty: People of Hispanic descent exhibit so many different facial features and referring to them all in a single approach is not possible.
- Middle Eastern rhinoplasty: People of Middle Eastern descent generally look for a less prominent nose without losing their cultural identity.
What are the challenges of an ethnic rhinoplasty?
As you might wonder what are the most challenging aspects of ethnic rhinoplasty, here we explained them all. The number one aim of any ethnic rhinoplasty surgery is to achieve a natural look by respecting the patient’s cultural identity. Knowing the limits of the surgery is another aspect to consider. Every part of your nose should be in balance with each other.
While trying to achieve that surgeons also need to pay attention to the demands of their patients. Finding a balance between demands and the natural results of the surgery will also improve self-confidence as well.
Now, we will take a look at how surgeons with years of experience in the field get over all these.
Respecting the patient’s heritage
There is only one version of you in this world and one of the most challenging aspects of ethnic rhinoplasty is to protect your heritage. The measurements and needs change for every person whether Asian, Hispanic, Middle Eastern, or African-American.
General perceptions and common approaches for each will not give you the perfect nose for your needs, but your surgeon’s aesthetic view and perception will. Since you are one and only, ethnic rhinoplasty will give you a distinctive result in the skillful hands of your doctor.
Knowing the limits of surgery
An overdone surgery is neither ethical nor ethnic. A surgeon should always know when to stop in ethnic nose surgery to protect the patient’s nasal structure. Reducing the nostrils more than enough or, making your nose largely proportioned will create an imbalanced look.
You never want to end up with lots of revisions and surgeries, and that is why it is a hard task to achieve. It is best avoided in the first surgery. Yet, correction of small complications is always possible with ethnic revision rhinoplasty surgeries.
Understanding the demands
Patient alliance with the doctor is the key to enhancing your natural beauty. If you have specific concerns about any part of your nose just let your doctor know about it. The surgery achieves wonders with the help of strong communication between the doctor and the patient.
Computer imaging and past patient surgery results can provide you with the best insight into what ethnic rhinoplasty surgery can achieve. Most of the time the demands of the patients can be divided into three main types of looks:
- Prominent-look
- Soft-look
- Natural-look
Your surgeon can easily determine which one is best suited for you, but the choice is always yours.
Improving self-confidence
By changing the shape of your nose, surgeons change the entire facial appearance which can boost your self-confidence in your social life. Surgeons must aim to achieve results that are as close to natural as possible for each procedure.
Achieving natural results is only possible with years of experience and understanding of facial anatomy. In the case of ethnic rhinoplasty surgery, it doubles the challenge as every ethnicity has its own unique facial features.
Now that we have talked about all the details of the nose surgery, it is time to look at some of the ethnic rhinoplasty before and after photos and then see what changes you can achieve with this surgery.
What are the changes you can achieve with an ethnic rhinoplasty surgery?
To give you the best results, surgeons use lots of different techniques in ethnic nose surgery. One of them is building a structure. It keeps your nose shape intact and makes the nose blend in with the rest of your face. This is a common approach and is applied to almost every different ethnicity.
Other techniques include adding or removing cartilage to make the nasal tip defined. In addition to that, a common concern of flaring nostrils is solved with meticulous changes on the base of your nose. Besides your surgeon always considers the skin type and nasal deformities to prevent any further problems.
- Building a structure
- Defining the nasal tip
- Reshaping the nostrils
- Addressing the skin type
- Correcting nasal deformities
Now it is time to get into details and to see what are the specialized techniques for each topic we covered so far.
Building a structure
If your nose is poorly projected, meaning flat looking, then the surgeon builds a new structure in your nose to make it look more prominent. The technique is called augmentation. It is generally demanded from people of Asian, some Hispanic, and African-American descent.
Using cartilage grafts taken from the nose, ear, or rib are used to build a firm structure. Implants made of alloplastic materials are also used to achieve the same aesthetic goal. In some cases to balance every part of your nose, augmenting your upper nose where the eyelids end is performed.
Some patients might ask for slight changes that can be handled with a non-surgical option, liquid rhinoplasty. In this technique, surgeons inject dermal filler to achieve a satisfying projection and definition over your nasal bridge. It is commonly performed in Asian regions especially in Korea (1).
Defining the nasal tip
Ensuring the nasal definition is one of the hardest things to achieve in any rhinoplasty surgery. In ethnic nose jobs, surgeons focus on so many different things but mostly correction of a bulbous tip is so common. The tip is often found droopy with Hispanics and Middle Eastern noses generally.
The definition of the tip is based on many different aspects such as the right amount of cartilage grafting, suturing, and slightly narrowing the tip without making it pinched or collapsed.
Reshaping the nostrils
You might have heard the term flaring, it means largely proportioned nostril wings. When you have flaring nostrils the solution is alar base reduction. Almost in every ethnic rhinoplasty procedure flaring can be seen and corrected in the same way.
While reducing the size of the nostrils surgeons pay attention not to overcorrect and make it look unnatural. To do that surgeons use a delicate measuring tool and apply such a surgical plan that the alar base reduction is done at the end.
Addressing the skin type
For each ethnic rhinoplasty patient, skin type might be different which comes in with challenges. During the consultation surgeons especially focus on the skin type and thickness.
Generally, the skin type of patients affects the duration of recovery and increases the risk of scarring. For patients with thicker or darker skin surgeons might use minimally invasive procedures. To minimize the recovery length some surgeons also use extra precautions such as keeping the nasal tape for longer.
Correcting nasal deformities
While addressing your aesthetic concerns surgeons always consider your breathing functionality. Finding a balance between these two aspects is important.
Usually, it is the deviated or shifted nasal wall between your nostrils that bothers you while breathing. To straighten up that wall your surgeon combines the unique techniques of ethnic rhinoplasty with septoplasty.
How can I find the best surgeon for ethnic rhinoplasty?
In any rhinoplasty surgery, the operation is performed by either an ENT specialist or a plastic surgeon. The best surgeon is the one who has tons of previous work since the experience is the best mentor. Besides, listen to your surgeon’s explanations carefully. He or she needs to explain the importance of the first operation. The best surgeon for your ethnic surgery should be able to provide you with the most satisfying results in the first surgery.
If you’re looking for the best surgeons to perform ethnic rhinoplasty, here are some steps to get you started:
- Investigate thoroughly: Begin researching ethnic rhinoplasty and its various techniques, and look into the procedures that will best suit your needs and desired outcome.
- Check certifications: Before selecting a surgeon, make sure that they are a member of esteemed medical associations in their field.
- Read reviews: Look for reviews and testimonials from past patients to get an idea of the surgeon’s experience and reputation. Pay attention to patient comments about the results, and the recovery process. Get multiple quotes from different plastic surgeons to compare the outcome and find the best surgeon.
- Look at before-and-after photos: Ask the surgeon to show you before-and-after photos of patients who have undergone ethnic rhinoplasty. In this way, you can get a better understanding of their skills and what type of results to expect.
- Schedule a consultation: Schedule a consultation with the surgeon to discuss your specific needs and goals, and to ask any questions you may have. During the consultation, the surgeon should take the time to carefully inspect your nose, and provide you with a detailed explanation of the procedure, the expected results, and the recovery timeline.
How is an ethnic rhinoplasty surgery performed?
The procedure is performed using either open or closed surgical techniques and involves reshaping the underlying nasal structures to create a result that is harmonious with the rest of the face and cultural background. Incisions may be made inside the nostrils or on the columella, and the procedure may involve sculpting the nose to achieve the desired result.
Is ethnic rhinoplasty a good idea if I want a Caucasian look?
Yes, it is your best option indeed. Surgeons can perform surgery to give you a Caucasian nose, although it comes with lots of cons. First of all, since every patient has a different nasal structure it will be less sustainable surgery for most people, especially those with weak cartilage support. Besides, it will only change the shape of your nose which needs to be balanced with other elements like your chin, cheeks, and forehead (2). So, if you are looking for nasal surgery alone to look more Caucasian the results might not be satisfying for you.
References:
(1) Bergeron L, Chen PK. Asian rhinoplasty techniques. Semin Plast Surg. 2009;23(1):16-21. doi:10.1055/s-0028-1110097 Link
(2) Szychta P, Rykała J, Kruk-Jeromin J. Individual and ethnic aspects of preoperative planning for posttraumatic rhinoplasty. Eur J Plast Surg. 2011;34(4):245-249. doi:10.1007/s00238-010-0502-9 Link
