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2026-05-25

Answering All Your Questions About Alar Reduction Surgery!

Hello. This is Vibe Plastic Surgery. Just as popular as eye surgery is rhinoplasty. There are various surgical methods for rhinoplasty. Among them, alar reduction surgery is not as widely known, so some people might not be familiar with it. We will take a detailed look at alar reduction surgery, including when and why it should be done. When viewed from below or from the front, if it looks wide...

Answering All Your Questions About Alar Reduction Surgery!

Hello.

This is Vibe Plastic Surgery.

Just as popular as eye surgery

is rhinoplasty.

There are various surgical methods for rhinoplasty.

Among them, alar reduction surgery

is not as widely known,

so some people might not be familiar with it.

When alar reduction surgery should be done,

and why it is necessary—we will take a detailed look

at alar reduction surgery.

When viewed from below or from the front,

it is a surgery that reduces the wide-looking alar,

or the nostrils.

In particular, when viewed from below,

if the alar flares out significantly,

undergoing alar reduction surgery can provide

highly satisfactory surgical results.

Whether you are a case that requires alar reduction

should be accurately diagnosed first

before deciding on the surgery.

Because alar reduction surgery

involves removing skin and tissue,

once the surgery is done,

it cannot be reversed.

Usually, Asians or those considering rhinoplasty

often have a low and droopy nasal tip.

In this case, simply raising the nasal tip appropriately

can create an alar reduction effect.

Since there are cases where only nasal tip surgery is needed,

rather than thinking you must do alar reduction first,

we recommend doing it if alar reduction is still needed

after performing the rhinoplasty.

For alar reduction,

there are incision methods that do not affect nostril size at all,

and surgical methods that can reduce

the nostril size itself.

Therefore, even if the nostrils are small,

if the skin and tissue on the outer alar are thick,

alar reduction is possible

without altering the nostril size.

For this reason,

it is best to consult with a board-certified plastic surgeon

before deciding on alar reduction surgery.

If there is a lot of unnecessary skin flaring outward,

and that part can be excised and gathered inward,

you can achieve the most effective results.

External incision and internal incision

are the two main categories.

Because the external incision is made

along the outer groove,

the scar can be hidden along the inner groove,

making it a surgical method that minimizes scarring.

The internal incision uses the floor inside the nostril

to make the incision, so compared to the external incision,

it is a surgical method that can hide the scar even more.

The muscles we use to smile

pull outward from the outer alar on both sides,

and there are also pulling muscles under the columella,

so it is natural for the nostrils to flare out

every time you smile.

However, if they flare out too excessively when smiling

and cause stress,

we recommend procedures or surgeries

that can slightly suppress the smiling muscles themselves.

- Botox procedure.

- Alar cinching

- Incision method

If it cannot be suppressed even with a Botox procedure,

we recommend a closed, less invasive method

called alar cinching.

Alar cinching uses threads

to tie the alar area,

which reduces the flaring phenomenon when smiling.

The incision method is the most aggressive treatment

among the three methods above.

Through the incision method, or alar reduction,

by removing the flaring tissue itself,

you can prevent the excessive flaring phenomenon.

When it comes to alar reduction injections,

they are usually known to use a slight mix

of Botox and ingredients that shrink

the skin and fat tissue itself.

Therefore, not only is the effect very temporary,

but if the nasal skin is thick or flares out a lot,

it can be difficult to achieve satisfactory results.

Since alar shapes vary from person to person,

and the appropriate surgical methods

also exist in variety accordingly,

we hope you proceed with alar reduction surgery

through a consultation with a board-certified plastic surgeon.

Vibe Plastic Surgery Clinic 8F, Urban Hive, 476 Gangnam-daero, Gangnam-gu, Seoul
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