Outcome of septorhinoplasty: a comparison of patient and surgeon views

The aim of septo-rhinoplasty and the outcome were evaluated by the patient and the surgeon. The assessment focused on six well-defined characteristics of the nose: profile, width of the osteocartilaginous dorsum, symmetry, nasal tip, nostrils and nasal patency. Patient and surgeon assessments were compared.

Both patient and surgeon opinions were obtained using a self-designed questionnaire covering the aim of the surgery, the most important positive and negative post-operative results, a general rating of the postoperative result and a rating of the pre-operative information given by the surgeon. We compared patient and surgeon views about the late (between 6 and 18 months) post-operative result of septorhinoplasty using Kappa statistics.

Sixty-nine patients were studied; 44 responded. The match between patient and surgeon views was closest in respect of the pre-operative aims and negative post-operative results. Patient and surgeon opinions differed most in terms of why a result was positive: nasal width was a more important issue for patients, and nasal symmetry was more important to the surgeon. Nasal patency and profile were equally important to both. The general rating on a visual analogue scale was a mean of 7.05 out of 10. The quality of the pre-operative information was found to be good by most patients.

Using a self-designed questionnaire for septorhinoplasty, we mainly found significant differences between patient and surgeon opinions in the post-operative evaluation of why results of the surgery are positively appreciated.