Early Cosmetic Results and Midterm Follow-up Findings of Rhinophyma Patients Treated With High-Frequency Electrosurgery and a Discussion on the Severity Assessment of the Disease.

BACKGROUND

Different methods can be used in the surgical treatment of patients with rhinophyma. There are limited numbers of reports on high-frequency electrosurgery treatment. In addition, an efficient scoring system is required to evaluate severity of the disease in clinical progress and recurrence after treatment.

OBJECTIVES

We evaluated patients with rhinophyma who were treated with high-frequency electrosurgery and discussed the methods used to assess severity of the disease.

METHODS

Data and photos of 13 patients were retrospectively evaluated and scored via 2 different forms of the rhinophyma severity index.

RESULTS

Median rhinophyma severity index scores of patients at first visits were significantly higher than those at second and third visits ( P = .002 and P = .002, respectively). Likewise, median modified rhinophyma severity scores of patients at first visits were significantly higher than those at second and third visits ( P = .001 and P = .001, respectively). Also, there was a strong positive correlation between these 2 assessment methods ( r = 0.838, P < .001).

CONCLUSIONS

The rhinophyma severity assessment methods used in this study are positively correlated. High-frequency electrosurgery seems to be a procedure that is safe, effective, and relatively cost-effective in the treatment of rhinophyma lesions.