The short answers

Three different widths: The bony vault, the tip, the nostril baseEach is a separate structure, and each has its own operation. More than one can be present at once.
Narrowing the bony vault: Controlled cuts in the bone, called osteotomiesNostril excision does not touch the bony bridge, and the bridge can be part of what reads as wide.
When flare counts as significant: More than about 2 mm lateral to a vertical line from the medial canthusWidth across the base and outward flare are independent measurements, and each has its own excision.
Measured change in one series: Interalar to intercanthal ratio 1.10 before surgery, 1.02 afterMean values in a combined sill and wedge series of 52 Asian patients, at a mean follow up of 18 months.
Why order matters: Tip projection changes how wide the base looksIncreasing projection narrows the alae. Reducing it, or shortening the nose, widens the base and increases flare.
What published survey work reports: Refinement, not conversion to another nasal typePatients in African American rhinoplasty survey work commonly wanted a reduced interalar distance while keeping slight alar flare.

Most people using the word are looking at a front-view photograph in which the nose reads as broad. It is not a diagnosis, and often it describes normal variation rather than a defect.

It can sit at the bony vault, at the tip, at the nostril base, or at more than one. Nostril narrowing does nothing for a broad bridge, so naming the level comes first.

Three different things called a wide nose

The nose is built in three levels, and each can read as wide from the front.

The bony vault. The paired nasal bones in the upper third. A broad vault is narrowed by controlled cuts in the bone, called osteotomies.
The tip. The paired lower lateral cartilages, with the skin envelope over them. A tip that reads as one round mass is what most people mean by a bulbous nose.
The nostril base. The width across the nostril bases and the outward flare of the alae, two separate measurements.

More than one can be present at once. Which dominates is not something a reader can judge in a mirror, and a surgeon should point to it on your own photographs.

Each width has its own operation

A broad bony vault is narrowed with osteotomies, which bring the side walls in. Nostril excision does not do it, and on its own can leave a narrow base under an unchanged bridge.

Tip width is the work of tip plasty, where sutures narrow the cartilages and the thickness of the skin over them sets the limit on definition.

The base is the work of alar base reduction. A nostril sill excision reduces interalar width and nostril size, an alar wedge excision reduces flare, and the two are combined where both are present.

Base work usually comes last, because tip projection changes how wide the base looks. Increasing projection narrows the alae. Reducing it, or shortening the nose, widens the base and increases flare.

Measuring before the tip is settled risks removing the wrong amount. The decision is often made during surgery, and some patients who expected narrowing turn out not to need it.

How width is measured, and what the numbers are not

Alar base width is conventionally compared with the intercanthal distance, between the inner corners of the eyes. The published norm varies with nasal morphology, and that detail sits on the alar base reduction page.

Flare is generally regarded as significant beyond roughly 2 mm lateral to a vertical line dropped from the medial canthus.

In a retrospective series of 52 Asian patients, published in the Journal of Craniofacial Surgery, the mean ratio of interalar to intercanthal distance fell from 1.10 to 1.02. Mean follow up was 18 months.

The change is measured in millimetres: real in a front-facing photograph, but not a remodelled nose. Over-narrowing can look out of proportion with the cheeks, lips and midface.

Other reference proportions vary by nasal type in the same way as base width. Standard analysis places the nasolabial angle at roughly 95 to 110 degrees in women, and it is typically less obtuse in the broader nasal types, mesorrhine and platyrrhine.

Those bands describe populations rather than individuals, and a nose can measure correctly and still look wrong.

A broader nose is a nasal type, not a deformity

Survey work in African American rhinoplasty, reported in Seminars in Plastic Surgery, found patients commonly wanted a narrower dorsum, better tip definition and a reduced interalar distance. Many wanted to keep slight alar flare.

The same work reports that patients did not want a nose resembling a Caucasian nose. Narrowing toward another nasal type is not the published aim.

Thicker skin, weaker tip cartilage and a broader base also change what surgery can achieve and how it must be done, which the ethnic rhinoplasty page sets out.

A surgeon who does not ask which features you want to keep has not understood the operation.

What narrowing trades away, and what it cannot do

Narrowing the base removes tissue, so the change is visible almost immediately, and the scar at the alar crease or nostril sill is permanent.

In the 52-patient combined sill and wedge series, 96.2 percent rated their scar unnoticeable on a visual analogue scale. In a separate single-surgeon series of 124 patients, around 25 percent later had dermabrasion for a noticeable scar.

Anyone with a personal or family history of hypertrophic or keloid scarring should raise it before surgery. It changes the balance of risk and benefit more than for most operations.

Excised tissue cannot be put back. A base left over-narrowed, notched or asymmetric is corrected as revision surgery, which is harder than the original operation.

None of this improves breathing. Base excision makes the external opening slightly smaller and treats neither the septum nor the nasal valves, so obstruction needs its own assessment.

Before you agree to a plan

Ask which level of the nose is wide, and what each step in the quote does about that level. Our doctors will answer that in writing before you travel.

Questions to ask a surgeon

Take these to a consultation. The consultation checklist is built to be printed and written on, and our doctors will answer questions sent through the site before you travel.

Is my nose wide at the bony bridge, at the tip, at the base, or at more than one, and can you show me which on my own photographs?
If the bridge is part of it, what will you do about that, and does the plan include osteotomies?
Will you decide how much to remove at the base before surgery, or after the dorsum and tip are done?
Which features of my nose do you plan to keep, and which do you plan to change?
Where exactly will the incisions sit, and what should the scar look like at six months and at a year?
If the base ends up over-narrowed, notched or asymmetric, who pays for the revision and where would it be done?

Sources

Every source below was opened and checked. We link to health authorities, peer-reviewed journals and professional bodies, and to nothing else.

Correcting wide alar base and flare with combined sill and alar excisionJournal of Craniofacial Surgery, via PubMedTechnique and outcomes for alar base narrowing.
Rhinoplasty: the African American patientSeminars in Plastic Surgery, via PubMed CentralPeer-reviewed discussion of anatomical differences and identity-preserving technique.
Analysis of imperative facial angles for rhinoplastyIndian Journal of Otolaryngology and Head and Neck Surgery, via PubMed CentralPublished nasofrontal and nasolabial angle ranges, including the differences between men and women.