Objective: To investigate the change in the alar base width of the nose following a Le Fort 1 osteotomy procedure in two comparable groups, one with an alar bases cinch suture placed at surgery and one without.
Method: Patients requiring a Le Fort 1 Osteotomy procedure participated in the study. A prospective randomized controlled trial study in accordance with the CONSORT guidelines (Altman et al., 2001).In the intervention group an alar base cinch suture was placed during the surgery, in the control group it was not. The change in alar base width of the nose was measured with an optical surface laser scanner. The laser scans of 20 participants were analyzed (12 female and 8 male).
Results: Overall the Le Fort 1 osteotomy caused an increase in the alar base width of the nose in all participants in the study. The placement of an alar base cinch suture resulted in slightly less widening of the alar base width compared to the control group. However, the difference observed was small, indicating that the placement of the alar base cinch suture may not be relevant in clinical terms.
Conclusions: This study suggests that placement of an alar base cinch suture made no difference to the alar base width of the nose. The sample size in the study was small and so the results need to be confirmed in a survey of a larger population of patients.