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Low incidence of incision scars reported in Asian patients undergoing open rhinoplasty

Open rhinoplasty resulted in a low incidence of problematic scars among Asian patients, according to study results recently published in JAMA Facial Plastic Surgery.

Researchers in Seoul, South Korea, conducted a retrospective study of 529 patients (353 males; mean age, 31 years) who underwent open rhinoplasty in a tertiary care referral center between Jan. 1, 2011 and May 31, 2014. Follow-up was completed on Jan. 28, 2015.

There were 234 patients with at least 6 months of follow-up who were evaluated for a problematic scar. Problematic incision scarring was noted in 14 of the patients (6%), including wide and depressed wound in four patients, notched wound in three patients, hyperpigmentation in four patients, marginal incision hypertrophic scar in two patients and columellar skin necrosis in one patient.  Problematic scars were reported in eight of 181 patients (4.4%) who underwent primary procedures and six of 53 patients (11.3%) who underwent revision surgery.

“Of the 243 patients with regular follow-up who underwent evaluation for erythema evolution, erythematous wounds were found in almost all in the immediate postoperative period and had normalized by a mean (SD) of 66.7 (37.4) postoperative days,” the researchers wrote.

There was an association between use of costal cartilage as tip graft material and problematic incision scar in two of 25 patients (8%), compared with the use of other graft material in six of 180 patients (3.3%; P = .02).

“In our present study of an Asian cohort, the incidence of problematic scarring was lower than reported for the Arabic population in earlier studies, and higher than that for white patients,” the researchers wrote.

“Trasncolumellar incisions always create the possibility of incision scar formation,” the researchers concluded. “In the present study, however, the overall incidence of incision scarring was low and patient complaints in this regard were even lower. For this reason, open rhinoplasty should not be discouraged because of concerns about problematic incision scars, even in revision surgery.” – by Bruce Thiel

Disclosure: The researchers report no relevant financial disclosures.