Postoperative Fillers Reduce Revision Rates in Rhinoplasty

Rhinoplasty is a complex procedure with revision rates of up to 17%. Even minor imperfections after surgery can be significant.

This review aims to investigate the use of hyaluronic acid (HA) fillers postaesthetic rhinoplasty and assess the rhinoplasty practice of the senior author.

From the senior author's practice, case records were obtained for patients who underwent surgery followed by nonsurgical rhinoplasty between 2015 and 2022. Data were retrospectively obtained and analyzed. The variables measured included the number of patients treated with fillers postoperatively, volume and type of filler used, locations of injection, and frequency of injections and complications.

Eight hundred patients underwent rhinoplasty between March 2015 and March 2022, and 10.6% (n = 85) of these underwent nonsurgical rhinoplasty using the HA filler for postoperative imperfections. The Juvederm 2 filler (Allergan, Irvine, CA) was mainly used with a mean volume of 0.2 mL. A total of 11.8% (n = 10) of patients had fillers for a second time and 3.5% (n = 3) required a third filler. The majority of patients had fillers in the rhinon area (82.3%; n = 70), and no complications were reported, with patient satisfaction levels being good.

Often, there is hesitancy to use fillers after surgery due to the assumption that fillers will be required in the long term and complication rates can be high for postrhinoplasty nose fillers. From our series, we conclude that after surgery, fillers last for a greater time period than those used purely for primary augmentation. Hence, the authors recommend rhinoplasty surgeons to consider HA filler use for patients troubled by postsurgery surface irregularities.