Intra-operative Nasal Compression After Lateral Osteotomy to Minimize Post-operative Peri-orbital Ecchymosis and Edema

Plain-language summary

Periorbital edema and ecchymosis are common morbidities in the post-operative period after rhinoplasty. Lateral osteotomy techniques used to reshape the bony nasal pyramid are large contributing factors to the degree of bruising and edema. This is due to injury to the angular vessels that are crossing the osteotomy sites. Depending on the degree of swelling and bruising, it can cause difficulty with visual acuity in the early post-operative period. Most importantly, this can be quite distressing to the patient and impact the time required to return to normal social activities. Numerous studies have examined various interventions to reduce periorbital swelling and ecchymosis. These include peri-operative steroids, lidocaine with epinephrine injections, fibrin sealant, permissive intra-operative hypotension and subperiosteal osteotomy techniques. Peri-operative steroids have been most extensively studied. Recent meta-analysis by Hatef et al, found that pre-operative steroids were effective for decreasing post-operative edema and ecchymosis. Steroids however, carry with it the risks of psychosis, immunosuppression, weight gain, uncontrolled blood glucose and avascular necrosis of the hip. As such, broadly applicable and cost-effective techniques to minimize post-operative edema and ecchymosis without the risk profile of steroids would be ideal. Taskin et al. recently examined the efficacy of the combination of intraoperative cold saline-soaked gauze compression and corticosteroids on rhinoplasty morbidity. The study group received compression with a cold saline soaked gauze to the nasal dorsum during the surgery and the control group received compression with a dry gauze. Both groups received a pre-operative dose of intravenous steroids. The study group had significantly less periorbital edema and ecchymosis on post-operative days 1, 3, 5 and 7. This study unfortunately did not examine the role of compression alone and the study was performed in the presence of steroids, which is not routinely utilized by all surgeons. As such, the proposed study will provide evidence for the use of direct compression intra-operatively after lateral osteotomy in order to reduce post-operative edema and ecchymosis. The findings of this study may provide a simple, effective and non-costly technique to minimize the morbidity of rhinoplasty.

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