Q: Can skin from the back be used to make an implant to augment the nose for rhinoplasty?If so, how is this performed? Is it better than using cartilage?
A: The method you may be referring to is using dermal fat to augment the dorsum. A common site for harvesting this fat is the buttocks. Unfortunately, dermal fat does not give you a dorsum, which feels like your own natural nose and will resorb with time.
Using your own cartilage has the advantage of a bridge, which will not resorb, and also feels like your natural nasal dorsum. Sometimes the surgeon is more important to an excellent outcome than the technique, but this technique is inferior to autologous cartilage techniques.
