Abstract
Across ethnicities, patients seeking rhinoplasty have similar goals—a natural looking
nose that fits and complements the rest of their facial features. Beyond a harmonious
nose, patients of African descent have a particularly strong desire for ethnically
congruent results in spite of individual aesthetic rhinoplasty preferences. This strong
appeal for ethnically sensitive alterations is fueled by the desire to maintain physical
identification with one's African ethnicity. There are psychosocial penalties when
rhinoplasty outcomes stray toward complete racial transformation. Consequently, rhinoplasty
in patients of African descent requires a fundamental understanding of acceptable
beauty norms, associated psychological underpinnings, as well as unique facial and
nasal features among Africans. Beyond these ethnically sensitive nuances, classic
rhinoplasty techniques of framework modification with cartilage contouring, grafting,
and bone remodeling are applicable in reshaping the African nose.
Keywords
African rhinoplasty - African American rhinoplasty - ethnic sensitive rhinoplasty
