Measuring nasal tip and lobule width; effect of transdomal and lateral crura suturing.

STATEMENT OF PROBLEM

There is no golden standard in measuring the width of the nasal tip and lobule. In this study we tried to validate the parameters Tip Index (TI) and Lobular Index (LI) as parameters for Nasal Tip Width (NTW) and Nasal Lobule Width (NLW) respectively. Trandomal suturing and lateral crura suturing were used to alter NTW and NLW respectively.

METHODS

Standardized digital photographs (basal view) of open approach rhinoplasty patients were analysed. Transdomal sutures and lateral crura sutures were used in 29 and 28 patients, respectively. TI and LI were determined with digital imaging software (Adobe Photoshop) pre- and postoperatively.

RESULTS

Average (SD) preoperative LI changed from 0.74 (0.07) to 0.71 (0.06) postoperatively with the lateral crura suturing technique (p = 0.045). We were not able to measure an effect in TI with the transdomal suturing technique.

CONCLUSIONS

Detailed postoperative analysis with digital imaging software contributes to greater understanding of nasal tip mechanics. LI proved to be a valuable technique to describe NLW refinement.