Saddle nose manifests itself as a depressed nasal dorsum (upper side of the nose) in profile photographs. This type of nasal malformation is caused by nasal trauma, prior surgery, and in rare cases, some varieties of chronic disease. Often these patients complain of severe respiratory problems indicating deformity in the nasal septum and the inner cavities of the nose.
The difficulty of saddle nose surgery is that in many cases the nasal septum is damaged due to previous surgery or trauma; therefore, surgery for correction of appearance, respiratory performance, and sense of smell requires cartilage or bone grafts from other parts of the body, such as the auricle or costal cartilage.
