Aesthetic outcome of transfacial sinus surgery: the patient's view.

Objective: To investigate the patient's view of the cosmetic outcome of transfacial sinus surgery.

Design: Prospective survey of patients after transfacial sinus surgery in a tertiary referral academic otolaryngology department.

Setting: Academic outpatient clinic of otorhinolaryngology. Patients Seventy patients (52 men, 18 women; mean +/- SD age, 56.2 +/- 14.9 years) who had undergone transfacial sinus surgery more than 4 months prior to study entry.

Interventions: Standardized patient self-assessment for postoperative alteration of facial appearance and emotional impairment and standardized observer assessment by surgeons and laypersons by means of visual analogue scales.

Results: Seventy-nine percent of the patients rated their appearance unaltered or minimally altered after transfacial surgery, and 91% reported no or minimal cosmetic morbidity. Postoperative cosmetic morbidity was significantly more common in women, in patients with chronic disease, and in those operated on for trauma. The surgeons' assessment was significantly correlated with the patients' self-assessment of altered appearance, but not with the patients' emotional impairment.

Conclusion: Consideration of these risk factors may help to further improve patient selection for, and patients' satisfaction with, transfacial sinus surgery.