Generic Health-Related Quality-of-Life Changes after Rhinoplasty: A Prospective Study with Long-Term Results.

[OBJECTIVES]  Our objective was to investigate changes in specific generic health-related quality-of-life (HRQoL) domains achieved by rhinoplasty, to investigate whether modifications of somatic-, psychologic-, and social-related HRQoL domains are different in patients with functional or aesthetic motivation for rhinoplasty, and to investigate if HRQoL changes are related to a functional or an aesthetic nasal improvement.

[STUDY DESIGN]  This was a prospective study with 1 year of follow-up.

[METHODS]  Fifty-four consecutive Caucasian patients submitted to rhinoplasty were evaluated with 36-item Short Form Health Survey (SF-36) and EuroQuality-of-Life 5 Domain (EQ-5D) questionnaires. To correlate changes in generic HRQoL with functional and aesthetic modifications achieved by rhinoplasty, evaluation of patients also included assessment of Peak Nasal Inspiratory Flow and Nasal Obstruction Symptom Evaluation, Visual Analogue Scale for nasal airway obstruction (NAO), and Rhinoplasty Outcome Evaluation scores.Modifications in each generic HRQoL health-domain were analyzed to investigate the possible relation with motivation for surgery and with functional or aesthetic improvement.

[RESULTS]  There was a significant improvement in EQ-5D ( < 0.001), EQ-5D VAS ( = 0.002) and in the SF-36 domains of general health ( < 0.001), energy ( < 0.001), physical functioning ( < 0.001), physical limitation ( = 0.005), pain ( = 0.003), and well-being ( = 0.018). Improvement was significant in groups of patients with NAO or in whom a septoplasty was performed and was associated with patient-reported functional improvement. There was a significant improvement in health change ( < 0.001), verified in all groups of patients.

[CONCLUSIONS]  This prospective study with long-term results demonstrates that rhinoplasty significantly improves most domains of generic HRQoL. This improvement is associated with patient-reported functional improvement. Emotional limitation and social functioning are not significantly changed by rhinoplasty.

[LEVEL OF EVIDENCE]  IV.