How to Reduce the Probability of a Pollybeak Deformity in Primary Rhinoplasty

Being a very common and highly stigmatizing deformity following primary rhinoplasty, a pollybeak deformity should be avoided during any primary rhinoplasty, especially in patients with thick nasal skin. Two surgical techniques used in the authors' department to decrease the probability of its development in at-risk patients are described in this article: the authors' modification of the supratip suture initially described by Guyuron, and a direct excision of excessive skin that the authors term supratip excision, reserved for rare cases with massive skin excess. In addition, a brief overview of the results of the authors' case series of 74 patients treated with the supratip suture technique, and 21 patients treated with the supratip excision technique over a 5-year period, is given. In the authors' experience, very good aesthetic results are achieved using either of the two techniques in selected cases.