Plastic and cosmetic surgeryKolle, Frederick Strange
Science
Plastic and cosmetic surgery
Kolle, Frederick Strange
Surgery, Plastic
The best results are obtained with sterilized white vaselin injections
when there is considerable mobility of the skin. A single needle opening
should be made, preferably about the center of the side of the lobule, or
slightly anterior to this point, carrying the point of the needle forward
to the anterior median line and a little above the actual point of the
nose.
The injection should be made slowly, closely watching the size of the
elevation caused by the mass and the state of the circulation about the
entire lobule.
Usually ten drops of the mass suffice to give the desired result. The
mass may be molded out if found desirable, but if the skin appears normal
after the operation and the tumefaction thus made does not make the
nose look grotesque, it may be allowed to remain as injected, depending
upon the subsequent reactive pressure to force it into shape. In this
way a greater part of the mass is retained at the wanted site and is
not crowded to the sides of the lobule by the customary post-operative
molding.
Even with this method great care must be exercised in not injecting too
much at each sitting. A failure is sure to result in hyperinjection about
the lobule. When it be remembered that only a very small quantity of the
mass will make a decided difference, the surgeon and patient should be
satisfied with the slightest gain.
If, however, the mass be retained and further elongation of the lobule is
desired, a subsequent injection can be undertaken, but not until a full
month after the primary operation.
Here, as with lateral nasal injections, there seems to be an
overproduction of new connective tissue following such an injection; a
decided factor in eventually pleasing the patient.
It is needless to say that the operator must avoid injecting one of the
blood vessels of the lobule, as this will cause considerable inflammation
from which the lobule does not recover readily, owing to the dense tissue
the surgeon has to deal with, leaving the tip of the nose discolored and
bluish for some time after the operation.
If the injected mass causes an immediate venous stasis of the lobule,
hot applications should be applied at once, or as soon as the operator
discovers that the proper massage and pressure to remove the offending
mass does not improve the circulation.
The author advocates the judicious use of antiphlogistin, faithfully
applied hot every six hours and continued until the acute inflammatory
symptoms subside, when the surgeon may resort to ice cloths or cold pack
until the danger of pressure and resultant gangrene have subsided.
Despite the very grave symptoms associated with such inflammation,
the operator may assure the patient against permanent disfigurement,
although the three or four weeks’ duration of treatment, usually required
in such cases, is an ordeal the cosmetic surgeon and the patient are not
liable to forget.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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