Association of Periosteal Sweeping vs Periosteal Preservation With Early Periorbital Sequelae Among Patients Undergoing External Perforating Osteotomy During Rhinoplasty.

Importance: Periorbital sequelae are a significant source of early postoperative morbidity after rhinoplasty, particularly after an osteotomy is performed.

Objective: To compare postoperative periorbital sequelae after external perforating lateral osteotomy in rhinoplasty using a periosteal sweeping vs a periosteal preserving approach.

Design, setting, and participants: This prospective cohort study conducted at a tertiary referral center located in Mansoura, Egypt, included 28 patients who underwent external perforating lateral osteotomy in open rhinoplasty between January and May 2017.

Exposures: Periosteal sweeping was performed on one side of the nose and periosteal preservation was performed on the other side during external perforating lateral osteotomy.

Main outcomes and measures: Periorbital sequelae, including eyelid edema, periorbital ecchymosis, and subconjunctival hemorrhage, were assessed on both sides of the face on postoperative days 1, 7, and 21 by 2 independent surgeons using the scale first proposed by Kara and Gökalan in 1999. The scales for eyelid edema ranged from 0 to 4, for ecchymosis from 0 to 4, and for subconjunctival hemorrhage from 0 to 2, with higher values indicating greater edema, ecchymosis, and hemorrhage, respectively. Differences in the 3 time points and differences between the 2 osteotomy methods were analyzed.

Results: In total, 19 men and 9 women with a mean (SD) age of 23.7 (3.9) years were enrolled. All patients showed significant decreases in eyelid edema on postoperative days 7 and 21 compared with day 1 (1.71 and 1.39 vs 2.89 for the swept side, and 1.86 and 1.46 vs 2.68 for the preserved side; both P < .05) and in periorbital ecchymosis (2.02 and 1.13 vs 2.86 for swept side, and 2.05 and 1.13 vs 2.82 for the preserved side; both P < .05). A significant decrease in subconjunctival hemorrhage was observed on day 21 compared with days 1 and 7 (1.79 vs 2.11 and 2.11 for the swept side, and 1.71 vs 2.14 and 2.14 for the preserved side; both P < .05). The mean rank score for eyelid edema on day 1 for the swept side was significantly higher than that for the preserved side (33.18 vs 23.82, P = .02), and the mean rank score for periorbital ecchymosis on the swept side was significantly higher than that for the preserved side (33.59 vs 23.41, P = .01). Although both eyelid edema and periorbital ecchymosis appeared to remain greater on the swept side on postoperative days 7 and 21, the differences no longer reached statistical significance. Periosteal preservation was not associated with minimizing subconjunctival hemorrhage postoperatively.

Conclusions and relevance: This study suggests that lateral nasal osteotomy is associated with varying degrees of eyelid edema, periorbital ecchymosis, and subconjunctival hemorrhage. Compared with sweeping the periosteum, preserving the periosteum in an external perforating lateral osteotomy was associated with less eyelid edema and periorbital ecchymosis in the early postoperative period.

Level of evidence: 2.