The effect of rhinoplasty on psychosocial distress level and quality of life

Abstract

The aim of this study was to evaluate psychosocial distress and improvement in quality of life (QoL) of patients undergoing rhinoplasty and compare the level of distress associated with the types of rhinoplasty. A total of 79 patients who underwent external rhinoplasty were enrolled in the study. The patients were grouped due to primary, secondary, functional and cosmetic rhinoplasty. The patients were evaluated four times: preoperative evaluation, 4th, 12th, and 24th weeks postoperatively and completed questionnaires including the rhinoplasty outcome evaluation (ROE) scale, nasal obstruction symptom evaluation (NOSE) scale, and Derriford Appearance Scale 24 every four visit. The revision cases and patients with cosmetic indication have more emotional distress than others at the preoperative and early postoperative period (p < 0.005). However, the distress level equalize and return baseline values beyond 12 weeks. The ROE and NOSE scores of all patients were very significantly improved by the rhinoplasty (p < 0.001). To our knowledge, this is the first study to evaluate changes in distress of patients undergoing rhinoplasty using DAS-24 scale. The psychosocial distress has a significant impact on quality of life and, therefore, it is an important factor to assess the success of surgery. In addition, regardless of initial demand and type of surgery, rhinoplasty provides improvement in nasal obstruction, and a positive impact on QoL in most of the patients undergoing rhinoplasty.