Revision Rates of Septoplasty in the United States

Background: Large-scale studies characterizing septoplasty revision rates are lacking. Objectives: To identify rates of septoplasty revision in the United States. Methods: Patients undergoing initial septoplasty between January 1, 2007 and December 31, 2013 were identified using the IBM^® MarketScan^® Commercial Database. Patients were excluded if they had nasal vestibular stenosis, rhinoplasty, or costal cartilage grafts for the initial surgery, or did not have either septoplasty, nasal vestibular stenosis, rhinoplasty, and/or costal cartilage grafts for the second surgery. Results: 295,236 patients received an initial septoplasty, and 3213 (1.1%) patients underwent a revision. Among the revision group, 178 (5.4%) patients received a septorhinoplasty, among which 13 (7.3%) required a costal cartilage graft. Older patients were less likely to need revision surgery (RS). Patients in the Northeast and West were significantly more likely than patients in the Midwest to undergo RS. Insurance plans such as comprehensive and point-of-service were associated with greater odds of RS, whereas others such as high-deductible health plans were associated with lower odds. Conclusion: Septoplasty revision rates are relatively low at 1.1% but influenced by age, region, and insurance plan.