Septorhinoplasty among Patients who Visited the Outpatient Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery of a Tertiary Care Center: A Descriptive Cross-sectional Study.

Mahato, Nain Bahadur; Regmi, Deepak; Bista, Meera

INTRODUCTION The nose is the central most part of the face, so any nasal deformities may cause a high level of psychological distress on one's quality of life. Septorhinoplasty is a surgical procedure used to correct both functional as well as aesthetic problems of the nose. It enhances facial harmony and increases self-confidence. The objective of this study is to find out the prevalence of out-patients who underwent septorhinoplasty in a tertiary care centre in Nepal. METHODS A descriptive cross-sectional study among 5,760 patients who visited the outpatient department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery of Kathmandu Medical College from April 2019 to September 2020. Ethical approval was taken from the Institutional Committee of Kathmandu Medical College. A convenient sampling technique was used. The preoperative and postoperative assessment was done with the help of a rhinoplasty outcome evaluation questionnaire. Statistical Package for the Social Sciences is used for analysis. Point estimate at 95% Confidence Interval was calculated along with frequency and proportion for binary data. RESULTS The prevalence of septorhinoplasty was 117 (2.03%) during the study period (95% Confidence Interval= 1.66-2.40). Among 117 patients, 67 (57.3%) were males and 50 (42.7%) were females. Among 117 patients, 85 (72.6%) patients underwent an open approach, while 32 (27.4%) patients underwent closed approach rhinoplasty for the correction of both aesthetic and functional problems. CONCLUSIONS This study concludes the prevalence of septorhinoplasty is low which may be due to the COVID-19 pandemic during the study period.