Alar Base Width (Determining Width of the Base or Bottom of the Nose)

Some patients are concerned about the width of their noses. The guideline used by most surgeons is to draw a line (line D) from the medial canthus (closest part to center of the eye) straight down on the face (ideally use a line perpendicular to the Frankfort Horizontal).

Figure 1 Demonstrating Line A (nasal flair), Line C (alar base width), Line B (nostril width).  The wider Line A is in relation to Line C the more flaired the nostrils will appear on frontal view.

Further definition of the width of the nose is to determine what is too wide. Line A is the line created from the widest part of the nose. Line C is the line created by the base of the nose. An overly wide nasal base is an issue if line C is too long. An overly flaired nose is the case if line A is too long.
An additional important consideration is how wide the nostril is line C based on the nostril sill and columellar footplate.

An artistic interpretation of the alar base supercedes any measure. In many faces, a nose which is wider than these measures may look more better than narrower. In addition, the narrower the alar base, the more prominence is given to the nasal tip. Finally, an overly narrow nose on a wide face may not be aesthetically congruent.