How To Correct A Crooked Nose

To improve facial harmony, many times patients seek rhinoplasty surgery in Charlotte to straighten a crooked nose.  Absolute facial symmetry is not a goal of facial aesthetics as everyone has minor differences between the two sides of the face.  This is true when evaluating the facial features of supermodels, Tom Cruise, Brad Pitt, and Carmen Electra.  When people have obvious facial asymmetries, the eyes of onlookers are focused away from the eyes and smile to the obvious facial asymmetry.  One of the most common obvious facial asymmetries is a crooked nose.

A crooked nose will take attention away from a person’s beautiful smile or gorgeous eyes.  In evaluating a person with a crooked nose, it is important to understand the cause.  Common causes of a crooked nose are:

1)     Result of trauma:  History of a fight, car accident, or strike to the nose

2)     Congenital:  Patient born with a crooked nose

The nose is composed of bone and cartilage that is covered with skin, muscle, and fat.  The top part of the nose is the bony part, and the lower flexible part of the nose is the cartilage.  In evaluating a crooked nose, I first identify if the bone, cartilage, or both parts of the nose are crooked.  If the bone is crooked, osteotomies (breaking the nasal bones) must be done to straighten the nose.  If the cartilage is crooked, then other rhinoplasty techniques must be performed.  Typical procedures that may be performed to straighten the cartilaginous portion of the nose are:

1)     Septoplasty- Correcting a deviated septum

2)     Swinging door technique-  Correct a deviated septum at the entrance of the nose

3)     Spreader grafts-  Improve breathing, build of the nose, and straighten the nose

4)     Onlay grafts-  Re-build  a collapsed section of the nose to increase symmetry

5)     Columellar strut-  Help straighten a deviated tip

6)     Tongue and groove-  Powerful technique to straighten a deviated tip

As you can see, there are many techniques that I use to straighten a crooked or deviated nose for my patients in Charlotte.  I may have to use 1 or all of the above techniques to create a nose that is straighter and allow a patient to be able to easily breath for the rest of their lives.