Quality of life in patients who underwent rhinoplasty

Overview

The authors state that little is known about how cosmetic procedures affect quality of life, particularly in Iran, where rhinoplasty is the most common cosmetic operation. They measured quality of life and general health in patients aged 18 to 55 seeking cosmetic rhinoplasty. The same investigator administered both questionnaires before and after surgery.

Sections of note

• Fifty patients were enrolled, 78 percent women and 22 percent men.
• Age, sex, marital status and education were recorded.
• Instruments were the General Health Questionnaire GHQ-28 and the WHOQOL-BREF quality of life questionnaire.
• Both were completed before surgery and three months after surgery, by a single investigator for all patients.
• Quality of life did not change significantly overall, with the exception of its psychological domain.
• The psychological domain change did not depend on sex, age, marital status or educational status.
• Change in general health after rhinoplasty was not statistically significant and did not depend on age, sex or marital status.

What it means for a patient

• Three months after surgery, measured quality of life and general health were largely unchanged, with the psychological area the one exception.
• The study had no untreated comparison group, so ordinary change over three months cannot be separated from the effect of surgery.
• Three months is early: swelling is still present and the final shape is not settled.
• Fifty patients from one country is a small sample, and the same investigator collected all scores rather than a blinded assessor.

Why this paper matters

Cosmetic rhinoplasty is usually justified by its effect on how a person feels, and this study tests that with standard instruments rather than satisfaction questions. Unanswered is whether the picture changes at a year or later, when the result has settled.

Terms

• Quality of life: a measured rating of how a person functions and feels in daily life.
• WHOQOL-BREF: a short World Health Organization questionnaire covering physical, psychological, social and environmental domains.
• GHQ-28: a 28 item questionnaire screening general psychological health.
• Psychological domain: the part of a quality of life score covering mood, self image and thinking.
• Statistically significant: a difference unlikely to be due to chance alone.