When is your nose broken during a rhinoplasty procedure?

Nose Reshaping: The upper third of your nose is supported by underlying bones. When these bones are crooked, too wide, too narrow or otherwise need to be repositioned, they can be broken in a controlled fashion during surgery. This is called an osteotomy and is performed with a very sharp, precise chisel.

When necessary: The superior portion of the nose is made of bone, while the lower portion is made of soft cartilage. Whenever you desire a change in the upper portion of the nose such as hump reduction, thinning, narrowing, or straightening, the bones must be fractured to produce these changes.

Toward the end: Most of the time when osteotomies are done in rhinoplasty it is toward the end of surgery but it varies depending on the case.

Only if necessary: The "hump" on the nose is part bone, and part cartilage. For people that are having this fixed, you have to trim down both the cartilage part and the bony part. After this is complete, the gap that results between the nasal bones must be closed. The nasal bones are "tweaked" (in-fractured) to close this gap, usually towards the end of the procedure.