Comparative study of continuous lateral osteotomy and microperforating osteotomy in patients undergoing primary rhinoplasty

INTRODUCTION  Lateral osteotomies play an important role in rhinoplasty and can be performed with different techniques. OBJECTIVE  To compare the results of narrowing of the nasal dorsum and base through 2 types of lateral osteotomy: continuous and microperforating. METHOD  We selected 74 patients undergoing rhinoplasty: 37 patients underwent lateral continuous osteotomy and the other 37 underwent microperforating osteotomy, all performed by the same surgeon. We analyzed frontal photography from the pre- and post-operative (6 months) periods, evaluating the width of the nasal dorsum and base. This was a retrospective study. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION  Using Student's t-test, statistical analysis concluded that there was a statistically significant difference in the post-operative narrowing of the nasal dorsum and base following both osteotomy techniques, and there was no statistically significant difference between the 2 techniques.