Patient Discomfort After Rhinoplasty With and Without Osteotomy Under Conscious Sedation

Many rhinoplasty techniques, including dorsum augmentation and tip surgery, could be performed under conscious sedation rather than general anesthesia. However, as osteotomy is an invasive procedure, it is burdensome for surgeons to perform osteotomy under conscious sedation. As patient ratings of pain and satisfaction when osteotomy is performed under conscious sedation are unknown, this study aimed to determine discomfort of osteotomy performed under conscious sedation.

Patients who underwent rhinoplasty with conscious sedation were prospectively included in the study. The patients were classified into an osteotomy and a nonosteotomy group. Questionnaires with a visual analog scale ranging from 0 to 10 were utilized to assess patient pain and satisfaction. Patients were also asked whether they would choose conscious sedation for future rhinoplasty operations. To evaluate adverse events, cardiopulmonary vital signs and nausea or vomiting were assessed.

Forty-five patients with a mean age of 32.7 years were included in the study. The mean patients' visual analog scale scores for pain and satisfaction were 3.3±2.0 and 7.2±1.9, respectively. Most of the patients [42, (93%)] stated that they would choose conscious sedation again if they had further operations in the future. No significant adverse effects occurred, and there were no significant differences in patients' ratings of pain and satisfaction between osteotomy and nonosteotomy groups when conscious sedation was used.

Patients' ratings of pain and satisfaction, and a lack of significant adverse effects, indicated that rhinoplasty can be performed under conscious sedation, even with osteotomy.