Surgical Correction of Rhinophyma

REPORT OF A CASE A 56-year-old white man sought correction of a nasal deformity that progressed during an extended period of increased alcoholic intake. Abstaining from alcohol for 4 years did not slow the distortion of his nose. The patient was extremely depressed and withdrawn from society because of his striking appearance. Results of a physical examination revealed a bulbous enlargement of the tip of the nose that was greasy to touch, almost spherical in shape, of a firm puttylike consistency, and freely movable over the cartilaginous support of the distal nose. The follicular pattern was strikingly accentuated with sebaceous material that was easily extruded on mild compression of the orifices. The skin over the cartilaginous portions of the nose was erythematous, with irregular lobulated thickening. It was studded with the multiple superficial pustular and deep inflammatory nodular lesions of rosacea. The skin over the nasal bones at the bridge of the nose did not appear to be involved in the process.