Awareness of Facial Asymmetry and Its Impact on Postoperative Satisfaction of Rhinoplasty Patient

Rhinoplasty surgeons often find that despite their best efforts to straighten the nose, patients often continue to perceive their nose as deviated, and this perception is particularly prevalent in patients with concurrent facial asymmetry. The aims of this study were to determine whether facial asymmetry influences the satisfaction of rhinoplasty patients and whether there is a difference in postoperative happiness between patients with and without facial asymmetry.

In this retrospective study, we reviewed the charts and photographs of patients who underwent rhinoplasty between 2016 and 2018. Patient photographs were analysed; 30 patients with facial asymmetry and 30 patients with symmetric faces were randomly selected for the study. The preoperative and postoperative rhinoplasty outcome evaluation (ROE) and standardized cosmesis and health nasal outcomes survey (SCHNOS) scores were compared between the two groups.

The mean preoperative symmetry scores of the group with facial asymmetry were significantly higher than those of the group with symmetric faces. The magnitude of increase in the average ROE score from pre- to postoperatively was significantly larger in the group with symmetric faces than in the group with facial asymmetry. The magnitude of decrease in the mean SCHNOS score from pre- to postoperatively was significantly larger in the group with symmetric faces than in the group with facial asymmetry (p: 0.006).

It is important to clearly evaluate patients with facial asymmetries before surgery to increase their postoperative satisfaction and outcomes and make their expectations more realistic.

This journal requires that authors assign a level of evidence to each article. For a full description of these Evidence-Based Medicine ratings, please refer to the Table of Contents or the online Instructions to Authors www.springer.com/00266 .