There are many different kinds of material that can be used during surgery. The required volume and shape differ on each type of surgery. For substitute materials, silicon, gore-tex, medphores are common, while when using self tissues, cartilage transplants, skin transplant, facial transplants, fat transplants, and bone transplants may be used. Also, artificial tissues such as alloderm and injections such as lextalin and aquamid are available.
 
  Silicon is one of the most widely used materials in plastic surgery. Silicon is used especially to heighten the nose.
Silicon has been approved by the American FDA as "harmless to the human body." It doesn't change over time and is known to be very useful as well as safe.
The reason that people often think silicon having various side effects is because silicon has been very widely used for plastic surgery purposes. However, the common problems that are aroused when using silicon are usually nothing to do with the silicon itself but more to do with improper surgery procedures or mistakes that the surgeon makes.
 
  Gore-tex has been used in plastic surgery for about a decade. It has many benefits and thus, like silicon, is widely used as substitute materials. For nose surgeries, it ranks second in use after silicon. It has also been approved by the American FDA as harmless to the body. The composition of gore-tex is chemically very safe and friendly to the body.
 
Med-pore is composed of porosic high-density poly-ethylene. It is very solid and has small holes. It is often called "artificial bone" and is inserter in the vomer area to heighten the nose. If used properly, med-pores are very useful. However, because of its' solid composition, if the skin covering the med-pore is relatively thin or the nose is raised too much, the skin may start to wear out and be provoked, exposing the inside of the nose.
 
Alloderm is an artificially manufacture skin that doesn't trigger any immunity response from the body. Alloderm can be viewed as inner skin implant, and is used to heighten the nose tip. In some revisional surgery, it is often used to supplement skin that has thinned because of implants.
 
Cartilages are usually extracted from the inner nostrils or the back of the ear. It is most often used to heighten the tip of the nose but can be also used as a pillar piece in between the nostrils. It is one of the most ideal materials for raising the nose tip and has almost no side effects. It can also be used to heighten the nose bridge, but because the amount of extraction is limited, satisfactory results are hard to achieve.
 
Extracted from the back of the ear or from the hips. Because the tissues are from ones' own body, it blends in nicely with the nose skin and is soft. When extracting the inner skin, scars may be left on the skin. The cons are that absorption occurs after the surgery and that the amount of absorption is difficult to predict.
 
Extracted from the thighs or from the belly then condensed through the centrifugal separator. It harmless to the body because the fat is none other than your own, but much absorption occurs. This procedure is useful when the client desires only a slight raise of the nose.
 
Raising the nose through injections such as lestilin, aquamid, and bio-alkamid. No surgery is required and the process is very simple. The cons include absorption, short lasting effects, limited shape, limited raise of the nose, and hindrance to future surgery. If you don't want surgery but want to raise the nose just a bit, this method is for you.