Management of External Nasal Valve Collapse: Literature Review

Abstract

Rhinoplasty is one of the most frequent cosmetic surgeries in the world and among the most common complications is valve collapse due to excessive resection of the alar cartilage. Facial paralysis, as well as aging, can collapse the lateral wall in inspiration due to dysfunction of the nasal muscle, causing weakening of the fibroalveolar tissue of the nasal lateral wall, and there are also genetic causes that produce valve collapse. Currently, various techniques are practiced to improve valve collapse and none are one hundred percent effective, most of them focus on correcting the nasal valve itself or the triangular cartilage, which indicates that they are fixed on a single factor and not on multifactorial etiology that produces it. This study reviews the clinical evidence that guides a correct diagnosis and effective management of external nasal valve dysfunction, using various techniques that are currently used to improve nasal valve collapse.