Surgical maneuvers performed on rhinoplasty procedures carried out at an otorhinolaryngology residency program.

UNLABELLED Rhinoplasty is one of the most challenging surgical procedures, due both to the diversity of the techniques and to the difficulty in foreseeing long-term outcomes. Each patient has a different nasal anatomy, dictated by genetic inheritance--race, thus requiring a different technique for each case. The international literature emphasizes the techniques used for the Caucasian nose, which is rarely seen in our region. AIM Evaluate and discuss surgical maneuvers used on rhinoplasty procedures performed on local patients at our ENT residency services. MATERIALS AND METHODS We evaluated the operative notes from all patients submitted to rhinoplasty at the Residency Program on Otorhinolaryngology at the Federal University of Uberlândia, from December 2003 to June 2004. RESULTS One hundred and sixty-six patients were submitted to rhinoplasty, in which marginal incisions were performed in 118 (71.1%), with the delivery technique performed on the inferior lateral cartilages and some procedures carried out on them (strut, sheen, sutures, etc). Only 45 patients (27.1%) were submitted to basic rhinoplasty and 3 (1.8%) to open rhinoplasty. CONCLUSION Most of our patients demanded additional procedures, and the "basic rhinoplasty", commonly performed on the Caucasian nose was an exception on our patients.