[Investigation of the layers and vascular density of the soft tissue in the inferior nasal portion].
OBJECTIVE
To observe the layers and vascular structures of the soft tissue (including the skin) in the inferior part of external nose (nasal inferior portion) for providing the essential morphological data used for the correction of the bulbous nose and the tip of nose with thick skin.


METHODS
Under a light microscope, the density of microangium (vascular area/frame area) in each layer was measured with an image analyzer.


RESULTS
The stained soft tissue in the nasal inferior portion could be definitely divided into 5 layers: epidermis, dermis, superficial fascia, fibromuscular layer and perichondrium. According to the density of microangium, the sequence of these layers was: perichondrium, reticular layer, fibromuscular layer, sub-papillary layer, superficial fascia and papillary layer.


CONCLUSIONS
The soft tissue in the nasal inferior portion consists of 5 layers, which is similar to the structure of the face and neck. Both the total thickness of these 5 layers and the thickness of the dermis are much thicker than those of the Caucasus', and suit to rhinoplasty for bulbous nose According to the results of vascular density analysis, the skin thinning procedure in the rhinoplasty for bulbous nose should start from the superficial fascia firstly, then the fibromuscular layer.
Wang
Zhi-jun
ZJ
The Hospital Attached to Dalian University, Dalian 116021, China.
Wang
Na
N
Yang
Hong-mei
HM
Bai
Shu-ling
SL
D000328:Adult; D006801:Humans; D009666:Nose / Q000033:anatomy & histology* / Q000098:blood supply*