Toxic shock syndrome following septorhinoplasty. Implications for the head and neck surgeon.

Toxic shock syndrome (TSS) is an acute multisystem disease that has recently been recognized to occur in a variety of clinical settings. Postoperative TSS has been described following many different surgical procedures, though, to our knowledge, only one report has been published to date describing TSS following a head and neck procedure. We report a case of classic TSS following septorhinoplasty. The analogous role of postoperative nasal packing and the packing of other cavities (eg, in maxillectomies or mastoidectomies) to the use of vaginal tampons as a possible risk factor for TSS development is suggested. A review of the literature, including standard case definition, diagnosis, and therapy is presented.