Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Objective: To describe the technique for correction of geon, with good supratip definition. Nineteen (15%) of
the soft tissue pollybeak deformity using intralesional in- the 127 patients had a less than optimal result, with
jection of triamcinolone acetonide. residual supratip fullness, as judged by the surgeon.
There were no complications caused by triamcinolone
Methods: We discuss our philosophy, regimen, and tech- injection.
nique for treatment of the soft tissue pollybeak using tri-
amcinolone injection. We include results from a series Conclusions: Because revision surgery is difficult and
of 173 patients who underwent rhinoplasty performed may be associated with complications, intralesional tri-
by one of us (N.J.P.). amcinolone injection is the first-line treatment for the
soft tissue pollybeak deformities caused by subdermal scar-
Results: Triamcinolone was injected at 1 week after ring. Should intralesional steroid injection fail to satis-
surgery in 127 patients (73%). A second injection was factorily treat the deformity, revision rhinoplasty can sub-
performed in 92 (72%) of the 127 patients at 4 weeks sequently be performed.
after surgery. One hundred eight (85%) of the 127
patients had an acceptable result, as judged by the sur- Arch Facial Plast Surg. 2002;4:26-30
T
HE POLLYBEAK deformity is pollybeak, and simple trimming of this
one of the most common cartilage will solve the problem. With loss
complications of rhino- of tip support, a cartilage strut or tip graft
plasty.1-3 It is a convexity of can be placed to correct or disguise the
the nasal supratip relative deformity.
to the rest of the nose. This deformity is A more difficult problem is the pol-
colloquially known as pollybeak because lybeak deformity that occurs paradoxi-
the lower two thirds of the nose takes on cally as a result of overresection of the lower
the convex profile of a parrot’s beak. The dorsal cartilaginous septum and/or the ce-
pollybeak is not due to transient postop- phalic margins of the lower lateral carti-
From the Division of erative edema but represents a persis- lages in the area of the supratip. This de-
Otolaryngology–Head and
tent, unattractive fullness that distorts the formity usually occurs in combination with
Neck Surgery, Stanford
University Medical Center, dorsal profile and obscures the tip.
Stanford, Calif (Drs Hanasono While the pollybeak may be the re- For commentary
and Koch); the Department of sult of technique, it may also be an un- see page 31
Otolaryngology–Head and predictable complication for even the most
Neck Surgery, Division of experienced surgeons. The causes of pol- thick nasal skin, resulting in inadequate
Facial Plastic Surgery, lybeak include inadequate resection of su- skin contraction and excessive dead space
University of Texas Health pratip structures, most commonly the dor- between the skin and the septal border,
Science Center, Houston sal septal cartilage or the cephalic margins which fills with scar tissue and results in
(Dr Kridel); the Department of the lower lateral cartilages; loss of tip a supratip fullness. The patient who re-
of Otolaryngology–Head and
support; or, paradoxically, excessive car- quires revision rhinoplasty with major alar
Neck Surgery, Cornell
University Medical Center, tilage resection in the supratip region that and septal cartilage resections to correct a
New York, NY (Dr Pastorek); results in subcutaneous scar tissue forma- cartilaginous pollybeak deformity is also
and The Glasgold Group, tion, often in conjuction with thick nasal at risk for formation of dead space that may
Highland Park, NJ tip skin.1-5 If excess cartilage is the cause, fill with scar tissue and result in a soft tis-
(Dr Glasgold). the condition is called a cartilaginous sue pollybeak.1
For this soft tissue type of pollybeak, revision rhino- month period. The patients (139 women and 34 men)
plasty with resection of the scar and debulking of the su- ranged in age from 15 to 78 years. One hundred nine-
pratip subcutaneous tissue is often followed by taping and teen patients underwent primary rhinoplasty (91 women
splinting to prevent recurrence. However, this technique and 28 men), and 54 patients underwent revision rhi-
may be ineffective in thick-skinned individuals and must noplasty (48 women and 6 men). These rhinoplasties were
be performed with utmost care so as not to perforate performed with the cartilage delivery technique in pa-
through the skin or devascularize the dermis from below tients who demonstrated adequate tip support before sur-
and cause tissue necrosis. Many rhinoplastic surgeons have gery. An external splint was placed at the conclusion of
successfully been able to avoid such revision surgery by surgery and was removed in 1 week, at which time the
sequential injection of the corticosteroid triamcinolone ace- supratip was visually assessed and palpated. Postopera-
tonide into the supratip scar tissue.6-10 The literature, how- tive follow-up lasted a minimum of 6 weeks.
ever, contains only brief mention of the use triamcino- Triamcinolone acetonide (10 mg/mL) was injected
lone, and to date there has been little comparison or subcutaneously into the supratip region per the au-
quantification of the treatment regimens used by various thor’s protocol at 1 week after surgery in 127 patients
surgeons. (73%). The group included 84 (70%) of 119 primary rhi-
noplasties and 43 (80%) of 54 revision rhinoplasties.
RESULTS Ninety-two (72%) of the 127 patients required a second
injection with triamcinolone acetonide at a concentra-
A retrospective review of the experience of one of us tion of 25 mg/mL at 4 weeks after surgery. The decision
(N.J.P.) with rhinoplasty was performed. One hundred to treat with triamcinolone was made by the surgeon
seventy-three rhinoplasties were performed over a 13- (N.J.P.).
A B C D
Figure 2. A, Presurgical photograph of a 22-year-old woman who underwent rhinoplasty, chin augmentation, and submental liposuction. B, Photograph taken
7.5 weeks after surgery demonstrates early formation of a soft tissue pollybeak, which was treated with triamcinolone acetonide at that time. C, Photograph
taken 7 months after surgery. D, Posttreatment photograph taken 9.5 months after surgery shows resolution of the soft tissue pollybeak.
First Treatment
Source, y Triamcinolone Acetonide, Dosage After Surgery Repeated at
6
Rees, 1971 0.2-0.5 mL of 10 mg/mL (2-5 mg) Not stated 1- to 2-wk intervals as needed
Mahe et al,7,8 1974 and 1979 0.25-0.5 mL of 40 mg/mL (10-20 mg) Not stated 3 wk if needed
Guyuron et al,9 2000 0.1-0.2 mL of 40 mg/mL or 4 wk 4-wk intervals (3 injections
0.2-0.4 mL of 20 mg/mL (4-8 mg) maximum)
Gruber,10 2000 0.1-0.2 mL of 10 mg/mL (1-2 mg) 4-6 wk 1- to 2-wk intervals as needed
mixed with an equal volume of
lidocaine hydrochloride
Present study
N.J.P. 0.1 mL of 10 mg/mL (1 mg) 1 wk 4 wk after surgery with 0.1 mL of
25 mg/mL (2.5 mg) if needed
R.W.H.K. 0.1-0.2 mL of 10 mg/mL (1-2 mg) 2 wk 4 wk using 0.1-0.2 mL of 10 mg/mL
or 40 mg/mL (1-2 mg or 4-8 mg,
respectively) depending on
results of previous injection
(4-6 injections maximum)
with increased scar degradation alone. Because of the dual septum or the dorsal borders of the upper lateral carti-
activity of triamcinolone before scar proliferation, early in- lages are too high, they can also be trimmed during sur-
jection requires less agent. Our method therefore re- gical revision. Augmentation of the upper dorsum may
quires a lower concentration (10 mg/mL) of triamcino- be needed in patients with very thick supratip skin in or-
lone acetonide for intraoperative and early postoperative der to create a straight-appearing dorsal line. Tip grafts
treatments and a higher concentration (40 mg/mL) for re- may also be used to refine and protect the tip above a
vision cases with curative rather than preventive intent. thick supratip that will not respond to therapy.
The major risk of treatment with triamcinolone in- Dorsal autologous grafts can also be used when the
jections is subcutaneous atrophy.12 The rate of subcuta- illusion of supratip fullness is caused by excessive high
neous atrophy in hypertophic and keloid scar treatment dorsal resection when the remaining nasal skin does not
reported by Darzi et al12 was 4%. Because triamcinolone shrink down. Prophylactic triamcinolone injections can
remains active in the tissue for 4 to 6 weeks, reinjection be administered at the time of surgery and during the
should probably not take place before this period because recovery period according to the protocol we have
there may be a higher accumulation of corticosteroid than outlined. Revision surgery should be delayed for at least
desired. Other potential complications include depigmen- 6 months after the initial surgery.
tation, telangiectasia formation, necrosis, and ulcer- It is preferable, however, to avoid surgery if pos-
ation.13,14,16 Rarely, symptoms of Cushing syndrome have sible. Subdermal dissection with resection of scar tissue
been reported but are usually reversible.17,18 A recent re- in revision surgery is difficult to perform and may lead to
port described an occurrence of complete and irreversible complications. Irregular thinning, adhesions, telangiec-
blindness resulting from steroid injection into the dorsum tasias, vertical grooves, furrows, and possible skin loss may
of the nose to treat subcutaneous scarring.18 Presumably, result.2 In general, subcutaneous triamcinolone injection-
the blindness was caused by a microembolus of injected into the scar tissue is the preferred first-line treatment for
suspension that led to the occlusion of retinal or choroi- soft tissue pollybeak, as it is well tolerated and has mini-
dal vessels. To our knowledge, there have been no other mal risk of exacerbating the deformity. If the triamcino-
reports of blindness associated with steroid injection of lone injections are not effective, surgical revision re-
the nasal dorsum, but blindness has been described as a mains a possibility for correction of the deformity.
complication of nasal turbinate steroid injection.19 Systemic steroids, such as dexamethasone, are used
We know of no studies that have quantitatively evalu- by some rhinoplastic surgeons to decrease postopera-
ated the systemic effects of intralesional injection of tri- tive eyelid and nasal edema as well as discomfort or
amcinolone for the pollybeak deformity. Mabry20 found pain.21,22 It is not known whether use of systemic ste-
that slight systemic absorption was evident 3 days after roids at the time of surgery may reduce the incidence of
intraturbinal injection with 40 mg of triamcinolone ace- the pollybeak deformity. Several other modulators of the
tonide for nasal turbinate hypertrophy, with some de- wound healing process are also currently being ex-
pression of plasma cortisol lasting up to 1 week in 4 (30%) plored as intralesional or systemic treatment for keloids
of the 14 patients studied. Cortisol values, however, were and hypertrophic scars. These modulators include isotreti-
not lower than normal limits at any time, and no adre- noin, interferon gamma, interferon alfa, and tamoxifen
nal suppression was apparent after repeated injections. citrate.23-25 For example, isotretinoin combined with tri-
If steroid injections do not fully correct the pol- amcinolone appears to significantly inhibit the growth
lybeak deformity, revision surgery can be performed. The of keloid fibroblasts in cell culture.23 Whether these treat-
scar tissue is excised, and a compressive tape and nasal ments alone or in combination with triamcinolone in-
dorsal splint are applied. The compressive tape should jection will prove to be effective treatment for the postrhi-
be maintained for at least 3 weeks. If the cartilaginous noplasty pollybeak remains to be seen.