Florida Polytechnic University has developed technology to help plastic surgeons perform better rhinoplasty surgeries.
According to the American Society of Plastic Surgeons, rhinoplasty, which targets the nose, has a high rate of needing a second surgery to "fix" inconsistencies with the initial procedure. Florida Polytechnic's Dr. Oguzhan Topsakal began developing technology roughly two years ago to help surgeons achieve better outcomes the first time around.
"About 30,000 to 40,000 rhinoplasty surgeries are done to fix problems with the first surgery,” Topsakal said in a statement. “Our goal is to improve the success rate, so people do not need to go through a second rhinoplasty surgery.”
The assistant professor of computer science at the Lakeland-based, STEM-focused university now works with four research assistants and nine interns to build out the technology. It is a 3D model analyzer tool that allows physicians to predict the outcome of the surgery better.
“We started by learning about what is important on a human face, what kind of measurements it has, and what kind of feature points can be changed,” Topsakal said. “They will be able to compare the results that are planned and the real outcome and then make an objective assessment."
The research has been published in three journals, including the Aesthetic Plastic Surgery and Aesthetic Surgery Journal.
This is one of several research projects the university is working on, allowing students to flesh out their skills before entering the talent pipeline. There's also a planned $40 million research-focused center which is set to open in spring 2022.
