Effect of Surgical versus Nonsurgical Rhinoplasty on Perception of the Patient: An Eye-Tracking-Based Investigation

Kassir R, Kassir S, Hofmann L, Breyer N, Cotofana S, Moellhoff N, Alfertshofer MG, Cajkovsky M, Frank K, Kohler LH.

What this paper says

An eye tracking study comparing where observers look before and after treatment, finding that surgical rhinoplasty changes nasal appearance more fundamentally than filler, especially in side view.

Overview

The nose sits at the centre of the face and plays an important part in how the face is perceived. Both surgical and filler techniques exist to change its appearance, but whether the two produce comparable perceived results was unclear. This study assessed the pattern and duration of where observers fixed their gaze on images taken after each type of treatment compared with images taken before.

Sections of note

Eye tracking study; the abstract reports no participant numbers, no patient numbers and no statistical figures.
Fixation pattern and fixation duration were assessed on images before and after treatment.
Both surgical and non surgical rhinoplasty procedures were included.
The stated finding is that nasal appearance is more fundamentally altered by surgical rhinoplasty.
That difference is stated to be most marked in the lateral, or side, view.

What it means for a patient

Eye tracking measures where a viewer's gaze lands and lingers, which is a proxy for what draws attention.
The finding is that surgery changes the profile more than filler does, which is consistent with what each procedure can physically achieve.
No numbers, sample sizes or statistical tests appear in the abstract, so the size of the difference is unknown.
The study measures observer perception of photographs, not patient satisfaction or clinical outcome.

Why this paper matters

Filler rhinoplasty is often presented as an alternative to surgery, and whether it produces a comparable perceived change is the practical question. This study applies an objective measure of visual attention to it. Without reported figures the conclusion rests on the authors' summary.

Terms

Eye tracking: recording where a person's gaze falls and for how long.
Fixation: a pause of the gaze on one point.
Lateral view: the side view of the face.
Nonsurgical rhinoplasty: reshaping the nose with injectable filler instead of surgery.
Aesthetic perception: how a viewer judges appearance.

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

From the abstract

“Because of its central location in the face, the nose plays an important role in the aesthetic perception of the face. To improve the appearance of the nose, surgical and nonsurgical rhinoplasty techniques have been described, although it still remains elusive if both options show comparable results in their aesthetic…”

Excerpt; the full abstract is on PubMed.