Objective Assessment of Nose Tip Light Reflections in Rhinoplasty

To assess the objective and subjective analysis of facet and infratip lobule in postoperative digital pictures of rhinoplasty patients and compare them with the people with good-looking noses. With the help of simple software that measures the brightness of the pixels, we investigated the relation between light reflections and patient satisfaction.

egardless of the technique, forty patients who underwent external open approach rhinoplasty were selected randomly. Twenty participants with a good-looking nose without operation history were selected as the control group. Digital Color Meter® in MacOS X® was used for measuring the brightness of the facets and infratip lobule. As a subjective outcome measure, the visual analog scale (VAS) was used and compared with brightness ratios.

The mean brightness ratios and VAS of operated noses were statistically low from the control group. There was a significant positive correlation between brightness ratios and VAS in all groups.

Our study presents the results of a simple method of measuring the light reflections of the nose tip. Noses with a good aesthetic outcome have more symmetric and subtle facets and infratip lobule. This method was feasible, and its results were correlated with patients' aesthetic perceptions.

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