Benign Nasal Mass as a Delayed Complication of Barbed Thread Rhinoplasty

Barbed thread rhinoplasty for nasal tip projection, dorsal length elongation, and nostril correction is usually performed at private clinics. The procedure is minimally invasive and does not cause permanent external scarring, which is a common challenge in rhinoplasty. Limited studies have described the complications of this procedure, with no reports on its late complications. A patient presented to the authors' clinic with a nasal septal mass, which had developed 3 months before the visit. She had undergone rhinoplasty 10 years prior. During excisional biopsy, the authors found barbed threads impacted in the mass, which may have been inserted during the rhinoplasty. The mass was pathologically demonstrated as a chronic inflammatory lesion that may have originated due to the foreign body. The use of barbed threads in rhinoplasty can induce complications as late as 10 years after surgery; clinicians should consider this and explain the possible late complications to patients before surgery.