Noses differ between peoples as much as faces do. A Middle Eastern nose often has a high bridge, a prominent hump and a tip that droops when smiling. An African or East Asian nose may have a lower bridge, a wider base and softer cartilage under thicker skin. Mediterranean and Balkan noses have their own patterns. None of these needs correcting. They are the starting point, and ethnic rhinoplasty is the name for surgery that refines a nose within its own character instead of giving it a standard shape.
Istanbul sits where Europe, the Middle East and Central Asia meet, and people of every origin live here. Ethnic rhinoplasty is therefore planned around the structure of the nose in front of the surgeon, not around a label for its origin.
Refine, do not erase
One aim is a nose that stays in proportion with the cheekbones and lips around it, rather than one that ends up too small, too narrow or too upturned for them. Dr. Teker plans every ethnic rhinoplasty against the proportions of your own face. A hump can be softened without flattening the profile; a tip can be lifted without becoming pointed; nostrils can be narrowed without looking pinched.
Skin and cartilage decide the technique
Two things make ethnic rhinoplasty technically different. Thick skin does not show the fine shape of the cartilage beneath it, so definition has to come from building a stronger framework rather than from removing tissue. Soft cartilage cannot hold a new shape on its own, so it is supported with grafts of your own cartilage from the septum, the ear or, for a low bridge, a small piece of rib. Your own tissue is generally preferred to silicone implants for long-term stability.
The Middle Eastern nose
A frequent request is the combination of a large hump, a drooping tip and a nose that lengthens when smiling. Lowering the hump alone leaves the tip hanging, so the tip is lifted and supported at the same time, and the muscle that pulls it down on smiling is released. The aim is to keep the strength of the profile while removing the heaviness.
Patience with swelling
Thick skin swells for longer. The bridge looks final within months, but the tip continues to refine for twelve to eighteen months as the skin shrinks around its new support. Taping after surgery and, occasionally, small injections help this along. Dr. Teker explains this timeline at the consultation, so that the slower course of the tip is expected rather than a worry.