Revision rates, patient characteristics in those undergoing septorhinoplasty

Published revision rates for septorhinoplasty procedures in the current facial plastic surgery literature are limited to a small number of studies focused on a single institution or a single surgeon. In the current study, Shaun C. Desai, M.D., of the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, and coauthors used data from several large payer databases.

The study group included 175,842 patients (13 and older) who had septorhinoplasty procedures between 2005 and 2009 in California, Florida and New York. Patients were an average age of 41 and 57 percent of them were male.

The authors report an overall revision rate of 3.3 percent (5,775 of 175,842 patients). When patients were divided by primary or secondary septorhinoplasty, the revision rate for a primary septorhinoplasty was 3.1 percent (5,389 of 172,324 patients) and 11 percent for secondary septorhinoplasty (386 of 3,518 patients), according to the results.

Patient characteristics associated with increased revision were younger age, being female, having a history of anxiety or autoimmune disease, and surgery for cosmetic or congenital nasal deformities, the study suggests.

"These data will provide valuable information in preoperative counseling for patients and physicians regarding patient and procedural characteristics associated with higher rates of revision surgery," the authors conclude.