Effect of Costal Harvesting Technique on Postoperative Donor-site Morbidity: Does Muscle Sparing Technique Cause Less Postoperative Pain ? A Clinical Trial

Revision rhinoplasty patients requiring costal cartilage were enrolled in the study. All costal cartilage harvestings were full-thickness and they were carried out by a single-surgeon (Berke Ozucer). Patients were randomly assigned either to 'Conservative Muscle-cuttingHarvesting Technique' or 'Muscle-sparing Harvesting Technique'.

Surgical technique costal cartilage harvesting in both groups were identical expect this:

M-Cutting group : Following skin incision with No.15 blade; all layers including the subcutaneous fat, muscle fascia and muscles covering the cartilage were cut with Monopolar electrocautery at (25 watts).

M-Sparing group: : Following skin incision with No.15 blade; all layers including the subcutaneous fat, muscle fascia and muscles covering the cartilage were passed with blunt dissection. Muscle fibers were dissected parallel to their positioning.

Postoperative pain was evaluated with a Visual Analogue Scale. Participants were questioned regarding their donor-site pain and asked to score their pain 0 (minimum and 10 (maximum). Passive state and pain while active was evaluated separately. This evaluation was carried out at 6th postoperative hour, first, second, third postoperative-days, first postoperative week, on 15th ,30th and 45th day postoperatively. Also postoperative need for analgesics were also noted for the first three days.