OUR EXPERIENCE OF CRUSHED CARTILAGE GRAFTS FOR NASAL TIPPLASTY
1Sakarya Üniversitesi, KBB Anabilimdalı, Sakarya, Türkiye2İstanbul Cerrahi Hastanesi, KBB Kliniği, İstanbul, Türkiye Introduction: Nose is the most prominent object of the middle face. All steps of rhinoplasty are important because of having an enourmous effect on appereance, so do tipplasty. Cartilage grafts are often used for tipplasty. One of the long-term problems associated with cartilage grafts are visibility and skin refining. This situation becomes more important with thin skin patients.
Material and Methods: 281 patients involved to the study who were operated, and during surgery crushed cartilage grafts were used for tipplasty, at Sakarya Üniversitesi Training and Research Hospital and Unye Government Hospital between February 2010 and August 2013. Patient's datas were investigated retrospectively. 124 of 281 patients were men, 157 were women. Cottle crusher and septum morselizer were used to crush or soften the cartilage grafts. Patient's long-term postoperative photos were investigated retrospectively.
Findings: Four patient (4/281) experienced slightly tip asymmetries after crushed cartilage grafts usage. None of the patients experienced graft visibility.
Conclusion: It is utmost important to provide a smooth and natural tip appererance in rhinoplasty. Crushed cartilage grafts are reliable for contour concealing and filling defects during tipplasty.
Keywords : Cartilage, graft, rhinoplasty, auricle, costal