Orthognathic patients with nasal deformities: case for simultaneous orthognathic surgery and rhinoplasty

Orthognathic surgery is a recognised way of correcting dentofacial deformities and it is common practice to treat problems that affect the chin simultaneously, while deferring or not treating nasal deformities. There is inadequate published information about the prevalence of nasal deformities in such patients, and our aim was to remedy this. We retrospectively studied 75 patients with dentofacial deformities to find out if there was an association between nasal and dentofacial abnormalities. Forty-six of the 75 patients (61%) had mild to prominent cosmetic nasal problems, of whom 27 had deformities of the nasal bridge, 22 of the lobule of the nasal tip, 20 of nasal width, 14 in the width of the alar base, and 11 of the columella; 8 presented with deviation of the nose, and 6 with abnormal nasal length. Skeletal classes II and III had only slightly varied emphasis on nasal deformities. In comparison 14 patients (19%) had problems with the chin that required, or had already had, genioplasty. We also studied 9 patients who had had corrective bimaxillary surgery with simultaneous rhinoplasty. We set no formal questionnaire, but all patients expressed satisfaction with the postoperative results.