Can Procerus Transection Alter the Radix Morphology and Influence the Nasal Length? A Study of Photogrammetric Assessments and Anthropometric Measurements on Asian Patients.

[BACKGROUND] The procerus is the main muscle across the radix that needs to be operated during rhytidectomy, however, it is unclear whether transecting it can morphologically affect the nose.

[METHODS] A retrospective study of Asian patients who underwent procerus transection during rhytidectomy in our single institution was performed to assess whether the radix profile had any change postoperatively. The procerus was transected at a plane above the nasion.

[RESULTS] Ninety-four patients were included. All of them were female with an average age of 50.7 ± 5.2 years and a mean follow-up time of 7.8 ± 3.2 months. Twenty-seven (28.7%) had moderate horizontal wrinkles preoperatively, and sixty-seven (71.3%) had severe rhytides. Different degrees of wrinkle improvement were seen on 91 (96.8%) patients, and no improvement occurred to 3 (3.2%) patients after procerus transection. The anthropometric measurements on these patients did not find any significant difference between the preoperative and postoperative nasal heights, radix projections, nasal lengths, or nasofrontal angles (all p >0.05).

[CONCLUSIONS] Procerus transection primary contributes to wrinkle improvement. The morphological change of the radix following this operation is too subtle to be observed. This conclusion should be further verified on large samples as well as on other ethnic cohorts in a long-term follow-up.

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