FPS Facial Plastic Surgery · 2013

Sonic rhinoplasty: innovative applications

Pribitkin E, Greywoode JD.

What this paper says

This article describes using the Sonopet ultrasonic bone aspirator to sculpt nasal bone with irrigation and suction, applied to hump removal, nasal spine reduction, deepening the nasal root, septoplasty, turbinate reduction and bony asymmetry; the abstract reports no patient counts.

Overview

Nasal bone is usually shaped with chisels, rasps and drills, which can obscure the view, generate heat, chatter and injure soft tissue. An ultrasonic bone aspirator liquefies bone with ultrasonic vibration while rinsing and suctioning, and is claimed to spare cartilage, soft tissue and lining. The authors list the procedures to which they have applied it.

Sections of note

Descriptive review of technique; no series size, outcomes or complication rates in the abstract.
Device: Sonopet ultrasonic bone aspirator (Stryker).
Mechanism: ultrasonic waves emulsify and remove bone under concurrent irrigation and suction.
Claimed advantages over osteotome, drill, rasp and powered rasp: better visualization, no heat, no mechanical chatter, more precision, less soft tissue injury.
Applications: bony dorsal hump and nasal spine removal, deepening the glabellar angle, reshaping irregular contours, septoplasty, turbinate reduction, correction of bony asymmetries.

What it means for a patient

Some surgeons shape the nasal bones with an ultrasonic device rather than a chisel, aiming for smoother results and less tissue trauma.
The abstract gives no evidence on swelling, bruising or revision compared with standard tools.
The technique requires wider exposure of the bone, which the abstract does not discuss.

Why this paper matters

It extends the same authors' 2011 report and precedes the wider adoption of piezoelectric rhinoplasty. It remains a description of applications rather than an outcome study, and comparative data are not presented.

Terms

Ultrasonic bone aspirator: a powered tip that vibrates at ultrasonic frequency to remove bone while suctioning debris.
Osteotome: a chisel used to cut bone.
Rasp: a file used to smooth or reduce bone.
Nasal spine: the small bony point at the base of the septum above the upper lip.
Glabellar angle: the angle at the root of the nose below the brow.
Turbinate reduction: shrinking the scroll-shaped tissue on the nasal side wall to open the airway.

Summary written by rhinoplasty.cc from the abstract, 2026-09-08; not medical advice. The authors' own abstract follows.

From the abstract

“Sonic rhinoplasty involves the use of the Sonopet ultrasonic bone aspirator (Stryker, Inc., Kalamazoo, MI, USA) to precisely sculpt the nasal bones without damage to the surrounding nasal cartilage, soft tissue, and mucosa. By employing ultrasonic waves to emulsify and remove bone under concurrent irrigation and…”

Excerpt; the full abstract is on PubMed.