Use of Mobile Application as an Auxiliary Tool in the Preoperative Marking of Nipple-areola Complex Positioning in Mammoplasty

BACKGROUND: Smartphones have the ability to benefit plastic surgeons in many ways. The aim of the study is to demonstrate that the use of a mobile application is a useful auxiliary tool for checking and eventual correction/adjustment of preoperative markings by plastic surgeons in mammoplasty. METHODS: The retrospective study was performed in a consecutive series of cases from July 2016 to October 2019. After preoperative marking, photographs were taken using the laser-level application (inclinometer, a leveling instrument), produced by Examobile, with an objective of verifying alignment deviations in preoperative marking. Some marking asymmetry related to the vertical height of the areolas was immediately corrected and a new photograph using the application was made for alignment checking. RESULTS: Ninety-three patients were included in the study. Comparatively, there was an increase in symmetry index around 28.6% of patients. The application of the Fisher and Chi-square tests evidenced statistical significance between the groups demonstrating the application as an auxiliary preoperative marking tool in relation to the symmetrical vertical positioning of the areolas. CONCLUSIONS: The use of technology has become an important component of the way plastic surgeons train and practice. Today, there is a big gap between the desire for digital resources and awareness of the resources that are already available. By aggregating and evaluating current mobile applications available, surgeons, residents, and medical students will have more efficient ways to connect to the information that drives education and tactical surgery development.