The effect of alar release on interalar changes in Le Fort I osteotomy

Introduction: Due to the increase in Le Fort surgeries and its effect on nose widening, it seems necessary to use an alternative method without this effect. The present research examined the effect of alar release on interalar changes in Le Fort I osteotomy. Materials and Methods: The study population included patients admitted to Bou-Ali Hospital in 2012-2013 undergoing Le Fort I osteotomy. The samples were 26, selected using simple random sampling method. Fourteen patients who underwent osteotomy with alar release were considered as experimental group and 12 who underwent conventional orthognathic surgery considered as control group. Then, the width of interalar was measured with actual size in photography. Results: The initial interalar width in experimental group was 4.1 mm; 12% wider than control group (p 0.000). After surgery, the interalar width in control and experimental groups were 36.2 and 39.6mm respectively that revealed a significant difference (p 0.01). The interalar width in control group increased 1.45±2.25 which showed a significant difference (p 0.05). In experimental group the increase was 0.28±2.48 reporting a significant difference (p 0.4). The change of interalar width in control group was 0.62 mm; 74.7% more than experimental group and Man-Whitney U test reported this difference as significant. Nine patients (75%) in control and 7 patients (50%) in experimental group experienced improvement. The relative risk for patients received alar release, was 1.5 higher (RR-1.5) and attributable risk of not using alar release for interalar width increase 25% (A.R-25%). Chi-square test showed that this difference was not significant (p 0.3). Conclusion: Basically, using alar release would probably prevent increase of interalar width in Le Fort I osteotomy.