Q. If the first surgery used donor rib cartilage, does the revision surgery have to use autologous rib cartilage? Can the septal cartilage used in the first surgery be reused as well?

Hello, I’m Director Seo Chan-eol of AB Plastic Surgery.

I’ll answer the nose surgery questions that many of you have been curious about!

The first question is: if the previous surgery used donor rib cartilage, does the revision surgery have to use autologous rib cartilage?

If the donor rib cartilage used in the previous surgery was used as a support column to raise the tip of the nose and there is no problem with it, it can be reused. However, if there is a problem, it would be considered a replacement. Usually, problems occur when partial resorption causes deformation, leading to tip drooping or bending.

These issues are likely to have occurred because the donor rib cartilage used as the support column for the nasal tip could not withstand the pressure from the skin or the weight of the structures above it. So rather than using donor rib cartilage again, we recommend rebuilding the nasal tip structure with autologous rib cartilage, which is stronger and less likely to be resorbed.

However, if there is no problem with the height or shape of the nasal tip, and the surgery only involves replacing an implant to change the bridge line, the donor rib cartilage can be used as is.

The second question is: can the septal cartilage used in the first surgery be reused?

If there is no problem, it can be used. And even if there is a problem in only part of it, only the unaffected part can be used for a different purpose. For example, let’s say septal cartilage was previously used as the support column for the nasal tip. If the nasal tip has drooped, bent, or if you want to raise the tip higher and replace it with a rib cartilage support column, the existing septal cartilage support column can be used as cartilage for overlapping grafting at the tip, as reinforcement for the bridge line, for spreader grafting to strengthen the existing septal support structure, or for alar cartilage grafting to lower the nostrils, among various other uses.

Today, we looked at how cartilage used in the existing structure is used in revision surgery.

I hope this helped answer your questions, and if you have any other questions, please leave a comment.

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