Nose Landmarks and Terms
By Rhinoplasty and Revision Rhinoplasty Specialist Dr. Michel Siegel, Houston, Texas Plastic Surgeon

There is some basic terminology used for describing the outside of the nose. These terms are important in understanding how the surgery alters the shape of the nose. This is not a comprehensive list of all terminology, but rather some of the most basic words you should know when going for consultation. This will make communication with your surgeon easier.

Nose Starting Point (Nasion)

The area of the face where the nose starts is called the Nasion. It is where the nose takes off from the forehead. On the picture above the green line represents the forehead and the blue line is the beginning of the nose (you can see how the blue line goes away from the forehead). The meeting of these two lines, marked by the red arrow is where the nose starts-the Nasion. Ideally when looking at a profile view, the nose should start at about the level of the eyelashes with eyes open.

Nose Projection

This refers to how far out the tip of the nose sticks out from the face. When the tip sticks out excessively, we call this over-projection. Conversely Under-projection means a nose that is too small.

Nose Rotation

This term describes the position of the tip in relationship to the upper lip. It has to do with how up-turned or down-turned the tip is in relationship to the lower lip. As a general rule more rotation is associated with women and a lesser degree is rotation is acceptable for men. Noses that are too upturned are over-rotated. Under-rotated noses may appear droopy. In general slight rotation is preferred for women, and less rotation is more acceptable for men.

Nose Columella

This refers to the base of the nose. It is the purple portion on the picture that divides the nostrils. The columella should be balanced with the nostrils. A low columella or “hanging columella” will give the appearance of big nostrils. For more information, click on Changing the Nose.

Nose Tip & Supra-Tip

The tip (red arrow) of the nose is the portion of the Lower Lateral Cartilages (green) sticking out furthest away from the face.

“Supra” means above. The blue arrow points to the supra-tip area which corresponds to the area above the tip of the nose. To understand how the supra-tip changes the appearance of the nose, click on the section changing the nose.