If the tip droops and nostrils spread when smiling — smiling tip and the roles of arrow nose surgery·alar reduction

01

What was the concern?

The situation of the person who asked is like this.

• Feels the nose spreads a lot to both sides when smiling — enough that the nose shape changes
• When the upper lip lifts, the sides of the nose lift together
• So lifting the lip upward feels hard
• The nose has a slight hump
• Nasolabial folds set deep and long when smiling — bothered by the crease running down below the lips

Among what they looked up themselves, the question was whether the explanation "it's because the muscles pulling at the mouth corners are strong" — i.e. smiling tip — applies to their case too, and if so which surgery to look at.

02

Why do the tip droop and nostrils spread when smiling?

When the tip droops and nostrils spread to both sides while smiling, it's because of the muscles around the mouth.

As you said, a case where the tip droops when smiling can be called a smiling tip. Separate from the nose shape at rest, the tip and nostrils look different as the muscles around the mouth move when making an expression.

Here, two things are appearing together.

03

Which surgery addresses what?

With this kind of nose shape, it can be viewed as follows.

• Drooping — arrow nose surgery — the muscle between the nose and philtrum can be cut to relieve the nose drooping downward.
• Spreading — alar reduction — the nose spreading sideways can be made less pronounced with alar reduction.
• Spreading — raising the tip — there's also a method of raising the tip to make the spread look less.

So even if drooping and spreading come from the same muscle's movement, the parts actually addressed differ. How the tip is raised can be seen in more detail in the nasal tip procedure guide.

For specifics, it's good to get a detailed arrow nose surgery consultation about the current state and how it changes when smiling — because with still photos alone it's hard to check what changes and by how much when making an expression.

04

Summary — the change during expression is viewed together

The tip drooping and nostrils spreading to both sides when smiling is related to the movement of muscles around the mouth. Drooping can be relieved by arrow nose surgery addressing the muscle between nose and philtrum, and the degree of sideways spreading can be made less by alar reduction or raising the tip. If both are seen together, what gets examined differs by which bothers you more — so it's good to confirm in consultation including how it changes when smiling.

Actual correction cases can be seen in before-and-after photos, and how the nose changes when smiling can be checked directly in a 1:1 video consultation.