Comparison of Patterns of Psychopathology in Aesthetic Rhinoplasty Patients versus Functional Rhinoplasty Patients

OBJECTIVES: To determine whether candidates for aesthetic rhinoplasty show more severe symptoms of psychopathology in comparison with functional rhinoplasty patients. STUDY DESIGN: Case-control study. Aesthetic rhinoplasty candidates were taken as cases and functional rhinoplasty patients comprised the control group. SETTING: A surgical center for rhinoplasty. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: Forty-two patients seeking either aesthetic rhinoplasty (n = 21) or functional rhinoplasty (n = 21) were included in this study in winter 2012 using a convenience sampling method. All patients were asked to complete the Symptom Check List-90-Revised (SCL-90-R) preoperatively. An independent t test was performed for each subscale of the instrument. Cohen's d was calculated as a measure of effect size. Pearson's correlation was also performed between the subscales. RESULTS: Independent t test verified that aesthetic rhinoplasty patients scored significantly higher in 8 subscales of the SCL-90-R in comparison with functional rhinoplasty patients as control group. Aesthetic rhinoplasty seekers showed more severe symptoms in obsessive-compulsive disorder (P < .01), depression (P < .01), interpersonal problems (P < .01), psychoticism (P < .05), paranoia (P < .05), hostility (P < .05), phobia (P < .01), and general psychopathology (P < .01). All subscales were correlated strongly in the current sample. CONCLUSION: This study demonstrated that a sample of patients seeking aesthetic rhinoplasty had higher symptoms in various components of psychopathology compared with a control group. Therefore, preoperative psychological screening of aesthetic rhinoplasty candidates may be useful.