assessment of rhinoplasty effects on tear passage time through nasolacrimal duct by chloramphenicol drop bitter taste test

purpose : rhinoplasty is one of the most common cosmetic surgeries. lateral osteotomy is one of the surgical steps used in rhinoplasty. there are several procedures to determine the tear passage time through nasolacrimal duct (nld) such as dacryocystography, dacryoscintigraphy, taste test, etc. one of the useful tests which can be used for determination of tear passage through nld is dripping of chloramphenicol drop in the eye and recording the passage time by its bitter taste perception by the patient. it should be pointed out that this test is easy to do, inexpensive, accessible, and safe. methods : in this interventional case series study (before and after intervention), 37 patients (74 eyes) were examined. the chloramphenicol taste test was done one week before and one week, one, three and six months after rhinoplasty was performed. all the results were statistically analyzed through paired t-test. results : the average time (±sd) of tearing passage was 291.90 (±120.04) seconds before surgery, which have reached in turn to 503.00 (±241.37), 478.62 (±212.86), 398.78 (±157.46), 359.86 (±159.51) seconds on the first week, first, third and sixth months after surgery. in this study, the postoperative average tear passage time was significantly longer than preoperative time (p=0.001). conclusion : we did not find any permanent obstruction after rhinoplasty. the results showed that tearing passage time increased after rhinoplasty.   iranian journal of ophthalmology 200921(4):32-36 © 2009 by the iranian society of ophthalmology