The Lower Nasal Base: An Anatomical Study

Abstract

Currently, most rhinoplasty surgeons focus their analysis and operative techniques on the upper nasal base, with its alar cartilages. They tend to minimize the lower nasal base, composed of the columellar base, nostril sills, and alar lobules. The requisite operative techniques are often considered ancillary techniques. In this article, the authors describe anatomical composition of the columellar base, nostril sill, and alar lobule; discuss the presence of a distinct lower nasal base; and reevaluate the nasal musculature and the nasal superficial muscular aponeurotic system in an anatomical cadaver model. They also discuss the results of both a detailed literature review (for articles related to the levator labii superioris alaeque nasalis, orbicularis oris, depressor septi nasalis, myrtiformis, and dilator naris) and the results of their own dissection of 45 fresh cadavers.