Respected Surgeon Dr. Dean Toriumi Discovers New Technique to Correct a Droopy Nasal Tip

    MARINA DEL REY, CA, February 04, 2010 /24-7PressRelease/ -- The severely droopy nasal tip is one of several complex nasal deformities traditionally treated surgically using ear cartilage. But Dean Toriumi, M.D., has found that the severely droopy nasal tip is much more correctable and longer-lasting when rib cartilage is used instead.

Toriumi, a facial plastic surgeon in the Division of Facial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, Department of Otolaryngology - Head & Neck Surgery at the University of Illinois at Chicago, specializes in secondary rhinoplasty. An expert at using rib cartilage for correcting complex nasal deformities, Toriumi increasingly has been using rib cartilage for such procedures.

Patients with a severely droopy nasal tip frequently have undergone previous rhinoplasty that involved aggressive resection of the caudal septum," Toriumi said. "This has resulted in loss of nasal tip support and drooping of the tip."

"This problem is quite common and is usually corrected using a columellar strut. But columellar struts made from ear cartilage are frequently too weak to support the base of the nose and may also create excessive width to the columella."

Toriumi's technique for correcting dependent or droopy nasal tips involves placing a longer strut that extends down to the region of the nasal spine or bone near the base of the nose. He fixes the rib cartilage strut to the nasal spine to create a solid fixation point. "This allows for stable elevation support of the nasal tip," Toriumi said. He carves the strut very thin so as to avoid making the columella too wide.

Dr. Toriumi confers with patients before surgery to explain that this technique may create a stiff feeling to their upper lip and may even create a crease in their lip when they smile. If the patient does not want to have a stiffer upper lip or a crease when smiling, he says, he can use other methods to make a lesser correction.

Only severely weakened noses with excessive resection of the caudal septum require these more aggressive techniques, Toriumi noted. "Most patients with a droopy nasal tip will not need such advanced methods to elevate their tip," he said. "The need for these methods depends on the status of their caudal nasal septum and related anatomy."

Dr. Dean Toriumi is a professor in the Department of Otolaryngology - Head & Neck Surgery, Division of Facial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery at the University of Illinois at Chicago. He has published four textbooks and more than 120 scientific articles, and has made more than 700 presentations on rhinoplasty and other topics related to facial plastic and reconstructive surgery.

For more information on Dr. Dean Toriumi and his procedures for correcting short-nose deformity, please call (312) 255-8812 or email Pat Golden, RN, Assistant Director of Physician Practice [email protected]
or see Dr. Toriumi's website at http://deantoriumi.com/.

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