Excision of rhinophyma with the carbon dioxide laser: a ten-year experience

Rhinophyma is a disfiguring disease of the nasal skin, primarily affecting white men in the fifth to seventh decades of life. Hypertrophy of the sebaceous apparatus leads to an enlarged, erythematous nasal tip with comedones. Modalities of treatment include dermabrasion, freehand scalpel shave, cryosurgery, electrocautery, excision and closure with local flaps, and laser resection. A retrospective review of 18 patients treated with carbon dioxide laser excision of rhinophyma from 1983 to 1993 is presented. Discussion includes technique, postoperative care, complications, recurrence, operative blood loss, length of follow-up, time to complete reepithelialization, and pathologic findings. The carbon dioxide laser is a relatively safe, cosmetically efficacious, and curative method of treating rhinophyma.