Primary presentation of a novel cartilage tweezer for simplification of alar cartilage cephalic resection—preliminary results

Aesthetic rhinoplasty can be quite challenging with the possibility of cartilage damage during manipulation, while there is a relevant risk of injury to the surgeon. To minimize both risks to the patient and surgeon, this paper presents a new cartilage tweezer, which also allows more precise handling during cartilage resection. At its distal end, the developed tweezer consists of a bent section, which forms a narrow scalpel guide for cartilage dissection with a partly overlapping branch design to improve accuracy during resection. At the apex of the tweezers’ cartilage guide, a ruler ensures meticulous measurement, which facilitates precise excision without the risk of over resection, which results in the preservation of cartilage stability. Additionally, the design includes an adjustable radius of the curvature of the two gripping jaws, allowing a variable resection size of lower lateral cartilage, without causing any crushing or bruising of the non-resected cartilage. The tweezer was tested during 21 functional-aesthetic nose surgeries at the department for Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery and Otorhinolaryngology of the Klinik Landstraße Hospital in Vienna. The presented instrument simplifies cartilage incision and the removal of excess cartilage during rhinoplasty, especially during cephalic trimming of the lower lateral cartilages.

Level of evidence: Level V, therapeutic study.