Investigation of the long-term outcomes of Tip grafts in rhinoplasty cases

The aim of this study is to investigate the long-term effects of different grafting techniques on projection and rotation after surgery. A total of 510 patients who met the inclusion criteria and were screened retrospectively were divided into 3 groups based on suture and graft techniques, with the primary aim of supporting the septum, and into 8 groups based on combinations of graft types. Satisfaction scores, projection rates, and rotation angles were measured for all patients in the preoperative, early postoperative, and late postoperative periods. Measurements were primarily compared without distinguishing between groups, and it was observed that the projection rate significantly increased from 0.60 to 0.63 and the rotation angle increased from 93.8 degrees to 100.5 degrees in the early postoperative period compared to the preoperative period. In the late postoperative period, while the projection rate of 0.63 was maintained, the rotation angle was found to decrease by 1.5 degrees to 99 degrees. When comparing the suture and graft techniques aimed at supporting the septum by groups, an increase was observed in the satisfaction survey scores between the preoperative period and the late postoperative period for all groups. When comparing the graft type combinations, a decrease in satisfaction survey scores between the early and late postoperative periods was observed in all groups except one. A significant negative difference was noted in the rotation angles between the early and late periods. No significant difference was found in the tip projection ratios between the early and late postoperative periods. Both the suture and graft technique groups aimed at supporting the septum and the graft type combination groups provided sufficient satisfaction and stable nasal tip results in the long term. It was observed that suture and graft techniques, especially the TIG (Tongue In Groove) technique, yielded satisfactory results in terms of rotation and projection in the long term. Key Words: Nasal tip, tip rotation, tip projection, tip grafts