Comparison of Piezosurgery and Conventional Osteotomy Post Rhinoplasty Morbidities: A Double-Blind Randomized Controlled Trial.

[PURPOSE] Several approaches have been introduced to decrease soft tissue injury during rhinoplasty. The piezoelectric ultrasonic device can be used to perform more precise bone surgeries and avoid soft tissue perforation. This study compared postoperative pain, edema, and ecchymosis in internal lateral osteotomies performed by the piezosurgery device with the conventional method.

[MATERIALS AND METHODS] In this double-blind randomized controlled trial, patients who underwent an osteotomy of the lateral nasal walls were randomly assigned to a conventional intranasal lateral osteotomy method using an osteotome (group A) or an internal lateral osteotomy using the piezosurgery device (group B). Postoperative pain was assessed 1, 2, and 3 days after surgery using the visual analog scale, edema was graded based on a 4-grade visual scale, and ecchymosis was assessed by a 3-grade visual scale 2 and 7 days after surgery. Data were analyzed by the Mann-Whitney U test with a significance level of .05.

[RESULTS] Overall, 20 patients (10 per group) were included in this study. Postoperative pain and ecchymosis were significantly decreased in group B at all time points (P < .05). Edema was significantly decreased in group B after 2 days (P = .043), although the difference was not significant after 7 days (P = .280).

[CONCLUSIONS] Performing an internal lateral osteotomy using the piezosurgery device is associated with decreased postoperative pain, edema, and ecchymosis compared with a conventional osteotomy.