Journal archive · Nasal tip · 2025
A New Alar Base Reduction Technique in Rhinoplasty
Kamburoglu HO.
What this paper says
Comparing 75 women treated with a modified nostril-narrowing technique against 67 treated with the classical method, the modified technique gave better scar scores and more natural-looking results, with equal symmetry.
Overview
Alar base reduction narrows wide nostrils but is nearly irreversible and can leave notching, visible scars and an unnatural look. Kamburoglu compared consecutive female patients treated with his modified technique from January 2016 to June 2022 (75 patients: 46 bilateral, 29 unilateral) against consecutive patients treated with the classical technique from 2010 to 2015 (67 patients: 41 bilateral, 26 unilateral). Scars were scored with a modified Stony Brook scale and three raters scored naturalness and symmetry on a VAS.
Sections of note
- Scar scores were significantly better with the modified technique (p < 0.05).
- Naturalness scores were significantly better with the modified technique (p < 0.05; rater agreement Cronbach's alpha 0.796).
- Symmetry scores did not differ (p > 0.05; alpha 0.828).
- Level of Evidence III.
What it means for a patient
- Nostril narrowing scars can be improved by how the cut is designed, not only by how it is stitched.
- In this comparison the newer method looked more natural to independent raters.
- The two groups were treated in different time periods, so surgeon experience could contribute to the difference.
Why this paper matters
It is a controlled comparison in a step of rhinoplasty that is often done casually and rarely studied. Limits: historical control, single surgeon, women only, technique details not in the abstract.
Terms
- Alar base reduction: removing a wedge of tissue at the nostril base to narrow the nose.
- Notching: a visible step or indentation at the nostril rim after surgery.
- Stony Brook Scar Evaluation Scale: a validated photographic scar score.
- Cronbach's alpha: a statistic for agreement between raters; above 0.7 is acceptable.
Summary written by rhinoplasty.cc from the abstract, 2026-09-08; not medical advice. The authors' own abstract follows.
Abstract
Background: Alar base reduction is one of the most challenging parts of rhinoplasty because the maneuvers that are performed during this procedure are nearly irreversible. Some of the important complications of alar base reduction are notching, scarring and unnatural results. In this study, we present a modified alar base reduction technique in order to prevent these complications.
Materials And Methods: Seventy-five female patients (46 bilateral and 29 unilateral alar base reductions) who needed alar base reduction were operated on consecutively between January 2016 and June 2022 with this new technique. They were compared retrospectively with 67 female patients (41 bilateral and 26 unilateral alar base reductions) who were operated on consecutively with the classical alar base reduction technique between 2010 and 2015. Scar quality was assessed with a modified Stony Brook Scar Evaluation Scale (MSBSES). Three people assessed the overall appearance (resulting in naturalness and symmetry) with a Visual Analog Scale (VAS).
Results: Statistically significant differences were found between classical alar base reduction and modified alar base reduction techniques (p<0.05) according to SBSES scores. Also, VAS scores about the result of naturalness were statistically different between the two groups (p<0.05) (Cronbach's alpha value 0.796). There was no significant difference between the VAS scores of the two groups in terms of symmetry (p>0.05) (Cronbach's alpha value 0.828).
Conclusion: This new modified alar base reduction technique is found to be useful, easy to apply and has better results than the classical alar base reduction technique.
Level Of Evidence Iii: This journal requires that authors assign a level of evidence to each article. For a full description of these Evidence-Based Medicine ratings, please refer to the Table of Contents or the online Instructions to Authors www.springer.com/00266 .
Abstract as indexed by PubMed; the article is open access (PubMed Central).
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