Length of hospital stay and complications of mini-facelift versus modified Blair incision for parotid abscess drainage.

Purpose: To compare the length of hospital stay (LHS) and complications between minifacelift (MFL) and modified Blair incisions (MBI) for adult patients undergoing parotid abscess drainage (PAD).

Materials and methods: A retrospective cohort study design was utilized comprising 2 groups of healthy adult patients (American Society of Anesthesiology [ASA] status I-II) who underwent PAD during a 7-year interval. The primary predictor variable was incision type (MFL vs. MBI). The primary outcomes were LHS and adverse complications resulting from the incision type. Other study variables were grouped into demographic, clinical, microbiological, and therapeutic categories. Difference in the cohort characteristics were analyzed using appropriate descriptive and uni- and bivariate statistics. Multivariate logistic regression was used to measure the effect of the incision type had on the LHS and adverse complication rates.

Results: The sample included 120 subjects (50% females) with a mean age of 41.7±18.3 years. Patients in the MFL group were hospitalized for 8.2±7.7 days, and the other group stayed in the hospital for 10.2±8 days (adjusted odd ratio [OR] 1.19, 95% confidence interval [95% CI] 0.52 to 2.7; p=0.8). In comparison with MBI, MFL did not significantly increase complication risks in term of facial paralysis (adjusted OR 0.93, 95% CI 0.06 to 15.29; p=1.0) and necessity of re-operation (adjusted OR 0.61, 95% CI 0.1 to 3.8; p=0.7).

Conclusion: Given no different LHS and complication risks, MFL can replace MBI for ASA I-II adult patients undergoing PAD.