Ethnic profile of patients undergoing aesthetic rhinoplasty in Stockholm

During 1985-1995 we performed 640 rhinoplasties in 578 patients. Five hundred eighteen of them were inhabitants of the Province of Stockholm, with a population of 1,708,502. The patients from the Stockholm area were analyzed and divided into subgroups depending on their ethnic origin. It was found that 272 (52%) of them were of Nordic descent, while 248 (48%) were born in and immigrated from non-Scandinavian countries. Among the latter, the largest group were 166 people of Middle Eastern extraction, who generally strived to reduce the size of their noses to the size similar to the average nose of the native Swedes. Middle Easterners were 17 times more prone to undergo aesthetic rhinoplasty than the ethnic Swedes (p < 0.001), whereas immigrants from the other Scandinavian countries had the same rhinoplasty frequency pattern as the natives. In the Slavic group females outnumbered males by the ratio 17:1. The large prevalence of patients of foreign extraction desiring alteration of their noses may reflect the assimilation difficulties and low tolerance of the society in accepting people with a foreign look or name, both in the private sector and in the job market. Psychological aspects of decision making by patients and medico-ethical aspects of decision making by surgeons are discussed.