Evaluation Of The Effect Of Corticosteroid Injection On Supratip Skin Thickness In Rhinoplasty Surgery

Abstract

Introduction: Thick, sebaceous gland-rich skin and subcutaneous tissue are the most unsuitable types of skin to achieve the desired outcome of a rhinoplasty operation. Corticosteroid injection is a treatment that can prevent this condition. The present study aimed to investigate the effect of intraoperative and first-week post-operative triamcinolone injection on reducing skin thickness in patients with thick skin following a rhinoplasty operation.

Method: A randomized clinical trial with a parallel design was performed on patients referred for rhinoplasty with a supratip thickness of over 3.1 mm. The patients were divided into three groups of 20 individuals. The third group did not undergo triamcinolone injection during the rhinoplasty operation. At the end of the study, supratip skin thickness was measured as the trial outcome in the second, fourth, and sixteenth postoperative weeks using sonography.

Results: 60 patients underwent rhinoplasty (in three groups of 20 individuals). The mean age of the participants was 24.9 ± 7.8 years, of which 42 (70%) were female and 18 (30%) were male. The supratip skin thickness was significantly lower in patients receiving triamcinolone immediately after surgery or one week after surgery than in patients without triamcinolone injection. In addition, there was a significant difference between patients who received triamcinolone intraoperatively and one week after surgery in terms of supratip skin thickness (P =0.027).

Conclusion: The results showed that triamcinolone injection is effective in reducing edema and supratip skin thickness. Also, triamcinolone injection immediately after surgery leads to better thinning of the supratip envelope.