SINGAPORE - Ng Teng Fong General Hospital (NTFGH) has developed surgical techniques to treat nasal deformity in Asians.

These include a new nose bone sculpting technique and instruments for nasal surgeries, or rhinoplasty.

Dr Ng Chew Lip, who specialises in ear, nose and throat (ENT) and facial plastic surgery, introduced the techniques to cater to Asians, whom he says have a "different nose structure and size".

"We needed our own rhinoplasty techniques and instruments," he told reporters at a media conference on Tuesday (June 22).

He estimated there are about 300 to 400 rhinoplasty surgeries per year in Singapore.

Implanting a 1cm graft shaped from cartilage at the nose tip was one technique he adapted. As Asians generally have thicker nasal skin, this "princess and the pea" graft better projects and defines the tip, he said.

He also introduced preservation rhinoplasty, a method that retains most of the bridge instead of cutting it out. Its philosophy is to remove only what is necessary, aiming to preserve as much cartilage and bone as possible.

While this is more difficult to execute than removing the entire bridge, Dr Ng said it is less destructive compared with traditional methods, which may involve hammers and chisels used in bone cutting.