Quality of life among Iranian adults before and after rhinoplasty

Overview

Rhinoplasty is among the most common cosmetic operations in Iran, but its effect on overall well-being there had not been measured. The authors interviewed patients with three standard questionnaires covering general health, nasal obstruction and self-esteem before surgery and again six months later.

Sections of note

• Cross-sectional descriptive and analytical study, March 2009 to March 2010; 75 subjects aged 16 and over.
• Questionnaires: SF-36 version 2 (general health), NOSE (nasal obstruction) and Rosenberg (self-esteem), completed with a trained interviewer.
• Mean age 26.05 years (SD 7.78), median 24; female-to-male ratio 4.35 to 1.
• Quality of life improved after surgery on all questionnaires.
• Significant improvements: NOSE (p = 0.005), Rosenberg (p = 0.002).
• SF-36 subscales with significant change: physical functioning (p = 0.047), role emotional (p = 0.01), bodily pain (p = 0.01), vitality (p = 0.05).

What it means for a patient

• In this group, rhinoplasty was followed by better breathing scores, higher self-esteem and modest gains in general health measures at six months.
• The patients were mostly young women; results may differ in other groups.
• No control group, six-month follow-up only, and the authors condition the benefit on proper patient selection and a successful operation.

Why this paper matters

It adds patient-reported quality-of-life data from a country with a very high rhinoplasty rate. The gains in general health subscales are small and their durability past six months is not known.

Terms

• Quality of life (QOL): a patient's own rating of physical, mental and social well-being.
• SF-36: a 36-item general health questionnaire with eight subscales.
• NOSE: the Nasal Obstruction Symptom Evaluation, a five-item breathing questionnaire.
• Rosenberg questionnaire: a ten-item self-esteem scale.
• Cross-sectional study: a study measuring a group at set points rather than following outcomes over years.
• Subscale: one domain within a larger questionnaire, such as bodily pain.