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Olcott et al. Plast Aesthet Res 2019;6:3 Plastic and
DOI: 10.20517/2347-9264.2018.79 Aesthetic Research

Original Article Open Access

The current trend of autologous costal cartilage
harvest by facial plastic surgeons for rhinoplasty in

the United States

Clara M. Olcott , Steven J. Pearlman 2
1

1 Inland Ear Nose & Throat-Facial Plastics, Upland, CA 91784, USA.
2 Pearlman Aesthetic Surgery, New York, NY 10022, USA.

Correspondence to: Dr. Clara M. Olcott, Inland Ear Nose & Throat-Facial Plastics, 1030 E. Foothill Blvd., Suite 101, Upland, CA 91784,
USA. E-mail: clara.olcott@gmail.com

How to cite this article: Olcott CM, Pearlman SJ. The current trend of autologous costal cartilage harvest by facial plastic surgeons for
rhinoplasty in the United States. Plast Aesthet Res 2019;6:3. http://dx.doi.org/10.20517/2347-9264.2018.79
Received: 27 Nov 2018 First Decision: 28 Nov 2018 Revised: 16 Jan 2018 Accepted: 23 Jan 2019 Published: 19 Feb 2019

Science Editor: Hong Ryul Jin Copy Editor: Cai-Hong Wang Production Editor: Huan-Liang Wu

Abstract

Aim: To assess the safety profile and practice trend of autologous costal cartilage harvest by facial plastic surgeons in
the United States (US).

Methods: A 10-question online survey was distributed by the American Academy of Facial Plastic and Reconstructive
Surgery to its members.

Results: Of the 2,639 members, 2,379 received the survey with 137 (5.76%) members responded. The majority (33.6%)
of the respondents were expert facial plastic surgeons. One hundred and nine (79.6%) of the respondents performed rib
harvest with 49.6% of them performing the procedure at a hospital facility. Among them, 21.5% exclusively performed
their surgery at an ambulatory surgical center not physically attached to a hospital while 6.67% of them at the in-office
accredited operating room. When comparing techniques, 64.7% performed only full-thickness rib grafts vs. 12.0%
harvesting partial-thickness rib grafts. Most used an incision length between 2.1 and 4 cm (64.4%) while 2 surgeons
used < 1 cm incision. The occurrence of pneumothorax after autologous rib harvest remained low (< 1%) in most (73.1%).
Regarding safety practices of the surgeons, only 24.6% would order a chest X-ray post-operatively while 54.5% would
not. In addition, 58.7% of respondents never kept their patients overnight for observation after autologous rib grafting
while 15.0% always would. For pain management, most respondents (50.4%) did not utilize any additional analgesia
protocol besides oral pain medications.

© The Author(s) 2019. Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0
International License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use,
sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, for any purpose, even commercially, as long
as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license,
and indicate if changes were made.

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