Transgender Rhinoplasty

Transgender rhinoplasty surgery involves surgical reshaping of a transgender patient’s nose to create either a more feminine or masculine appearance.  There are distinctive gender specific characteristics of the nose. Female noses tend to be shorter, with narrower and well defined dorsum and uplifted smaller tips. Male noses, on the other hand, are usually larger, longer, with wider and higher nasal dorsum and wider, less uplifted nasal tips. The skilled surgeon must strike a physical and aesthetic balance when reshaping the nose, especially in relation to other transition procedures that have or will be done. The ultimate goal is to enable the patient to present his or her gender with confidence.

The transgender patient who is making the physical transition from female to male (FTM) may opt to have rhinoplasty to augment the shape (and possibly the size) of the nose. In this rhinoplasty procedure, a larger and wider nose is created for a stronger, more masculine facial appearance. This is usually achieved by using cartilage or soft tissue grafts over the dorsum to increase both width and height. Nasal tip may be pushed down (or derotated) using various surgical techniques, and the width of the tip may be increased to give the nose more masculine appearance.

The person transitioning from male to female (MTF) chooses rhinoplasty for exactly the opposite reason – to feminize the nose. FTM rhinoplasty redefines the nose by reducing the length and width of the nose, lowering the height of the dorsum, and possibly adding a slight lift to the nasal tip.
Either open or closed rhinoplasty approaches may be used in transgender rhinoplasty surgery. Dr. Ovchinsky will decide on the best approach in your particular case during in person consultation. He will also go over surgical nuances in detail to make sure that all your questions are fully answered.

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