Cosmetic Nasal Tip Sutures Part I: The Evolution

Suture techniques for reshaping the nasal tip have been in use for many decades. However, the past two decades have been the most influential in the advancement of the procedures commonly used today. This report details the origin of the major tip suture techniques and tracks their evolution through the years. The early techniques in tip rhinoplasty share a basic principle: the sacrifice of lateral crus integrity to augment the middle and medial crural cartilage to gain tip projection and height. These techniques often disrupt the support mechanisms of the tip lobule, leading to undesirable postoperative results, including supratip fullness, tip asymmetry, tip drop, and an overoperated appearance. Modern nasal tip surgery is founded on the philosophy that suture placement does not simply secure partially excised sections of alar cartilage; rather it aims to directly reshape and reposition the various nasal tip components. The principal suturing methods available in the repertoire of today’s rhinoplasty surgeon are the medial crural suture, the middle crura suture, the interdomal suture, the transdomal suture, the lateral crura suture, the medial crura anchor suture, the tip rotation suture, the medial crura footplate suture, and the lateral crura convexity control suture. This report acknowledges past contributions to nasal tip surgery and looks at the recent evolution of techniques commonly used today. (Plast. Reconstr. Surg. 112: 1125, 2003.)