10th Rib Cartilage: Another Option of the Costal Cartilage Graft for Rhinoplasty

The septal and auricular cartilages have traditionally been considered primary autologous graft materials for rhinoplasty [1-6]. However, the autologous costal cartilage can be useful when a strong strut is required due to contracture from previous surgeries or accidents, when tip projection is required, when the septal and auricular cartilage cannot be used due to a previous surgery, or when a large amount of autologous cartilage is needed [7-12]. The 6th, 7th, and 8th ribs are most often selected for harvest [12]. However, the use of these costal cartilages has some disadvantages, including donor-site morbidities such as vessel damage or iatrogenic pneumothorax during the harvest, chest wall deformities, persistent postoperative pain, additional scarring in the chest wall, and potential warping. Various costal cartilage harvesting and carving techniques have been introduced to overcome the aforementioned disadvantages. With such efforts, both donor-site morbidity and warping have decreased significantly [13-22]. However, costal cartilage harvesting still requires time and careful attention, and disadvantages such as donor-site morbidity and warping are not completely overcome. Therefore, as long as dorsal augmentation with costal cartilage is not considered, we planned to use the 10th costal cartilage to achieve good results with minimal harvesting of the cartilage. We would like to introduce the use of the 10th costal cartilage for nasal tip-plasty. Jae Hoon Kim, Jin Woo Song, Sung Wan Park, Won Suk Oh, Joo Heon Lee