Role of upper lateral cartilage tension spanning suture in restoring the dorsal aesthetic lines in rhinoplasty

SUMMARY: Dorsal hump reduction can lead to significant aesthetic and functional deformities with distortion of the dorsal aesthetic lines without first preserving and subsequently restoring proper position of the upper lateral cartilages. The senior author (R.J.R.) previously described the component dorsal hump reduction to preserve the integrity of the upper lateral cartilages, thereby avoiding routine use of spreader grafts. In this study, the authors introduce an efficient and reproducible technique they call the upper lateral cartilage tension spanning suture to reconstitute the upper lateral cartilages into anatomical position. The authors have found this technique to consistently achieve smooth and symmetric contour to the nasal dorsum and pleasing dorsal aesthetic lines.