Abstract
Introduction:
The coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic has led to concerns over transmission risk from head and neck operations including facial cosmetic surgeries.
Objectives:
To quantify droplet and aerosol generation from rhinoplasty techniques in a human anatomic specimen model using fluorescein staining and an optical particle sizer.
Methods:
Noses of human anatomic specimens were infiltrated using 0.1% fluorescein. Droplets and aerosols were measured during rhinoplasty techniques including opening the skin–soft tissue envelope, monopolar electrocautery, endonasal rasping, endonasal osteotomy, and percutaneous osteotomy.
Results:
No visible droplet contamination was observed for any rhinoplasty techniques investigated. Compared with the negative control of anterior rhinoscopy, total 0.300–10.000 μm aerosols were increased after monopolar electrocautery (p < 0.001) and endonasal rasp (p = 0.003). Opening the skin–soft tissue envelope, endonasal osteotomies, and percutaneous osteotomies did not generate a detectable increase in aerosols (p > 0.15).
Discussion and Conclusions:
In this investigation, droplets were not observed under ultraviolet light, and aerosol generation was noted only with cautery and endonasal rasping.
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