A dorsal hump is a bump of bone and cartilage along the bridge of the nose, the most common reason our patients ask about rhinoplasty, followed by a nose that reads too wide and a tip that is bulbous, droopy or turned up. All of these can be changed, but only by surgery: the shape of a nose is set by bone and cartilage, which no exercise, tape or cream can move, and filler can disguise a small bump without making anything smaller.
The Nose Shapes Patients Ask About
A nose is bone in its upper third, cartilage in the middle and at the tip, and skin over all of it, thin at the bridge and thicker at the tip. For the wider catalogue of profiles, read our post on the types of nose shapes.
Dorsal Hump (Nose Bump)
The hump sits where bone meets cartilage, a little above the midpoint of the bridge, and it is usually more cartilage than bone. Most humps are inherited and appear during adolescence; some follow a broken nose that healed with extra bone. A hump is common across many backgrounds, Mediterranean, Middle Eastern, South Asian and European among them, and belongs to no single group; a modest one reads as character on many faces, so the decision is about proportion.
Wide Nose
"Wide" can mean three different things, and the operation depends on which. The nasal bones can be set far apart, so the upper bridge looks broad. The tip cartilages can be broad or splayed, so the lower half looks wide. Or the nostrils can flare, so the base is wider than the space between the eyes. Thick skin makes any of them look wider still.
Bulbous Tip
A bulbous tip is round and full rather than defined, usually because the tip cartilages are wide, convex or far apart, sometimes because the skin over them is thick and oily. Our post on the bulbous nose covers tip refinement; the point to add is that the tip is reshaped by suturing and trimming cartilage, not by removing skin.
Crooked Nose
A crooked nose deviates to one side, from the bridge, the septum, the tip or all three, and it is the shape most often paired with a breathing problem, because a deviated septum blocks one side of the airway. Injury is the usual cause. Our post on how to fix a crooked nose explains why the septum has to be straightened along with the outside.
Droopy Tip
A tip that hangs makes the nose look longer, and it often drops further when you smile, because a small muscle in the upper lip pulls on it. The causes are weak tip support, a long septum, or cartilage softening with age. Our post on nasal tip surgery has the detail.
Upturned Nose
An upturned nose is the opposite problem: a tip rotated too far up, showing too much nostril from the front, often after a previous surgery that took too much. Lengthening a nose is harder than shortening one, because cartilage has to be added; our post on upturned nose rhinoplasty covers the grafts involved.
What Changes Each Shape: Bone, Cartilage and Skin
Removing a hump means taking down its two materials separately: the bone is rasped or cut, the cartilage is trimmed. That leaves a flat "open roof" where the bones no longer meet, so the nasal bones are moved inward with controlled cuts called osteotomies, which closes the roof and narrows the bridge, and small cartilage grafts support the middle of the bridge so the sidewalls do not pinch inward and narrow the airway later. A newer approach, preservation rhinoplasty, keeps the bridge intact and lowers it as one piece by removing a strip of septum beneath it; it suits a hump on an otherwise straight bridge, not a wide, crooked or previously operated nose.
Width is treated at the level where it lives: osteotomies for wide bones, sutures and a conservative trim for wide tip cartilages, small wedge excisions at the nostril creases for a flaring base. A droopy tip is rotated upward and held with a cartilage strut; an upturned one is lengthened with cartilage grafts. Skin is not cut away in a standard rhinoplasty: it is lifted, the framework beneath it is changed, and it shrinks onto the new shape over the following months.
What Cannot Change
Skin thickness is fixed. Thick skin softens definition, so a refined tip under thick skin will never look as crisp as the same tip under thin skin, and a surgeon who promises otherwise is promising something skin does not do. Healing has its own clock: the bridge settles in weeks, the tip in months, and the last swelling leaves between six and twelve months, so the nose at two weeks is not the nose you will have at a year. And the "nose exercises", tapes and clips sold online change nothing, because there is no muscle to train; our post on how to make your nose smaller covers the popular tricks.
Non-Surgical Rhinoplasty: What Filler Can and Cannot Do
A non-surgical or "liquid" rhinoplasty places hyaluronic acid filler above and below a hump so the profile reads as a straight line, and the effect is immediate. Three limits apply. It adds volume, so the nose becomes slightly larger, never smaller, and it cannot narrow a wide nose or shrink a bulbous tip. It is temporary, months to a year or more, and repeated sessions add up. And the nose is one of the higher-risk areas for filler, because its arteries connect with the arteries of the eye, so the injector's experience matters more here than anywhere else; at our practice non-surgical rhinoplasty is performed by our board-certified facial plastic surgeon. Filler suits a small hump, a minor asymmetry or a tip that needs a slight lift; our post on non-surgical rhinoplasty has the full comparison.
Rhinoplasty: Open Against Closed, in Plain Words
Rhinoplasty changes the framework, and it comes in two approaches. In a closed rhinoplasty every incision is inside the nostrils, there is no visible scar, and recovery is a little shorter; it suits a hump reduction, modest narrowing and simpler tip work. In an open rhinoplasty a small incision is added across the columella, between the nostrils, so the whole framework is seen directly; it suits complex tip work, grafting, a crooked nose and most revisions, and the scar fades to a fine line. Dr. Cat performs both and chooses by your goals and anatomy; the surgical detail is on our rhinoplasty in Beverly Hills page, and our post on open vs closed rhinoplasty compares them.
Two variations matter here. An ethnic rhinoplasty often builds rather than reduces, using cartilage grafts to raise a low bridge or define a soft tip while keeping the nose in character with the face and its heritage. And when a deviated septum or a narrowed airway is part of the picture, it is corrected in the same operation: Dr. Cat trained in both head and neck surgery and plastic surgery and is a board-certified plastic surgeon, and her technique includes cartilage grafts and airway preservation so the nose breathes at least as well as before. Revision rhinoplasty on noses operated on elsewhere is performed by our board-certified facial plastic surgeon.
What Dr. Cat Looks For at the Consultation
The consultation starts with what bothers you, then an examination of the nose inside and out: where the hump is bone and where it is cartilage, how wide the bones sit, how strong the tip cartilages are, how thick the skin is, whether the septum is straight and the airway open. She then gives a realistic assessment of what your bone, cartilage and skin allow. Inspiration photos are welcome; a copy of a celebrity's nose is not the plan, because a nose is designed for the face around it. Candidates are in good health, do not smoke, are at least 16 and have realistic expectations. Surgery takes about three to four and a half hours under general anesthesia; patients outside Los Angeles can consult by video. The surgical consultation fee is $500, credited toward surgery; the discovery call before it is free.
Before and After
Profiles show a hump best and front views show width, so look at both in our rhinoplasty before and after photos. Find the cases whose starting nose and skin thickness resemble yours, and note how the tip relates to the upper lip in each after photo; that relationship decides whether a nose looks operated on.
Recovery in Brief
A splint covers the bridge for the first week, and bruising around the eyes fades over about two weeks. Most patients return to work at around week two, keep glasses off the bridge for a few weeks, and hold strenuous exercise until week six. The contour refines between months three and six, and the tip, the last part to lose its swelling, settles by six to twelve months.
Cost in One Line
Dr. Cat's surgeon's fee for a primary rhinoplasty is $40,000 to $45,500, and the operating room and anesthesia are quoted at your consultation, with revision rhinoplasty performed by our board-certified facial plastic surgeon (surgeon's fee $40,000 to $50,500, operating room and anesthesia quoted at the consultation); our rhinoplasty cost guide explains what the quote includes and what moves the price. Surgeon's fees are typical ranges: a more complex case can cost more, and your fee is set at your consultation and is final only in your written quote.
Frequently Asked Questions About Nose Shape
Why do I have a bump on my nose?
A dorsal hump is extra bone and cartilage where the bony bridge meets the cartilage below it. Most are inherited and appear during adolescence; some form after a broken nose heals with extra bone. Because it is bone and cartilage, nothing applied to the outside can shrink it.
How do I get rid of a dorsal hump?
Rhinoplasty is the only way to remove it. The bone is rasped down and the cartilage trimmed, or the whole bridge is lowered as one piece in a preservation technique, and the nasal bones are brought together so the bridge is smooth and narrow. Filler hides a small hump for months but does not remove it.
Can exercises or nose-taping make my nose smaller or narrower?
No. The size and width of the nose are set by bone and cartilage, which do not respond to exercise, tape or clips; there is no muscle in the nose to train. Rhinoplasty reshapes the framework; filler only camouflages a small irregularity by adding volume.
How painful is dorsal hump removal?
Less than most patients expect. The first days bring congestion, pressure and a heavy feeling under the splint rather than sharp pain, and most patients describe the discomfort as mild and manageable with the medication they go home with. The splint comes off at a week.
Can breathing problems be fixed in the same surgery?
Yes. A deviated septum or a narrowed airway is corrected during the rhinoplasty, and the middle of the bridge is supported with grafts so removing a hump does not narrow the airway. Dr. Cat trained in both head and neck surgery and plastic surgery and plans every rhinoplasty for breathing as well as shape.
Talk to Dr. Cat About Your Nose
If the bump, the width or the tip has been on your mind for years, the next step is a conversation, not a commitment. Start with a free discovery call or call (310) 858-8808, and before you visit look through the rhinoplasty before and after photos and the full rhinoplasty in Beverly Hills page.
Medically reviewed by Dr. Cat Begovic, MD, FACS, board-certified plastic surgeon. Last reviewed September 2026.