Preoperative and postoperative assessment of external nasal valve in rhinoplasty

INTRODUCTION: The external nasal valve is located on the rim of the nostrils and is composed of soft tissues and cartilage. Any imbalance between these structures always leads to external nasal valve insufficiency, which may be partial or total, depending on the degree of alteration. The external nasal valve was evaluated before and after rhinoplasty to assess the efficiency of the technique used. METHODS: This is a retrospective study that included 34 patients operated at private hospitals. The collapse of the nasal alae during deep inspiration and the vector of the lower lateral cartilage were evaluated. To provide more structure to the nasal alae, the lateral crural strut graft and/or alar contour graft were used. RESULTS: The inappropriate vector of the lower lateral cartilage is related to the external nasal valve insufficiency (p = 0.006), which was corrected with grafts providing nasal alae remodeling in most of the cases (p = 0.006). A significant difference was observed in the frequency of using grafts in primary (66%) and secondary rhinoplasty (80%). CONCLUSION: The inappropriate vector of the lower lateral cartilages usually resulted in an unstructured nasal alae, presenting external nasal valve insufficiency. Structuring the nasal alae with a lateral crural strut graft and/or alar contour graft was proven effective to correct external nasal valve insufficiency in 90% of the cases and to provide better aesthetic proportions and nasal contour. The frequency of grafts used in secondary rhinoplasty (80%) was higher than that in primary (66%), which indicates the need for grafts in a more complex surgery.