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.