Four common anatomic variants that predispose to unfavorable rhinoplasty results: a study based on 150 consecutive secondary rhinoplasties.

A retrospective study was conducted of 150 consecutive secondary rhinoplasty patients operated on by the author before February of 1999, to test the hypothesis that four anatomic variants (low radix/low dorsum, narrow middle vault, inadequate tip projection, and alar cartilage malposition) strongly predispose to unfavorable rhinoplasty results. The incidences of each variant were compared with those in 50 consecutive primary rhinoplasty patients. Photographs before any surgery were available in 61 percent of the secondary patients; diagnosis in the remaining individuals was made from operative reports, physical diagnosis, or patient history. Low radix/low dorsum was present in 93 percent of the secondary patients and 32 percent of the primary patients; narrow middle vault was present in 87 percent of the secondary patients and 38 percent of the primary patients; inadequate tip projection was present in 80 percent of the secondary patients and 31 percent of the primary patients; and alar cartilage malposition was present in 42 percent of the secondary patients and 18 percent of the primary patients. In the 150-patient secondary group, the most common combination was the triad of low radix, narrow middle vault, and inadequate tip projection (40 percent of patients). The second largest group (27 percent) had shared all four anatomic points before their primary rhinoplasties. Seventy-eight percent of the secondary patients had three or all four anatomic variants in some combination; each secondary patient had at least one of the four traits; 99 percent had two or more. Seventy-eight percent of the primary patients had at least two variants, and 58 percent had three or more. Twenty-two percent of the primary patients had none of the variants and therefore would presumably not be predisposed to unfavorable results following traditional reduction rhinoplasty. This study supports the contention that four common anatomic variants, if unrecognized, are strongly associated with unfavorable results following primary rhinoplasty. It is important for all surgeons performing rhinoplasty to recognize these anatomic variants to avoid the unsatisfactory functional and aesthetic sequelae that they may produce by making their correction a deliberate part of each preoperative surgical plan.