ABSTRACT
The authors report on a survey of 73 patients who underwent rhinoplasty, and foccus on the importance of treating septal deviations and esthetic rhinoplasty deformities jointly, from March 1985 to July 1989. 28 of the 73 patients presented various degrees of nose obstruction and were treated by different procedures, according to each particualr case. Attention is called to the importance of a detailed preoperative study, including radiological evaluation, contrast facial profile study, rhinoscopy, photographs and a rhinomanometric study in those patients with a dynamic alteration of the nasal airflow. These 28 patients showed a variable degree of nose obstruction due to septal deviations, nasal bone deviations and/or hypertrophy of the turbinates associated or not to allergic alterations. A precise evaluation provided data that defined the anatomical alterations of the various types of obstruction, allowing for the best surgical option in each case. Lastly, the authors stress the importance of an anatomical and functional knowledge of the nose in order to perform these operations, as well as the use of adequate material in the surgical procedures. A single session operation allows for correction of nose deformities and obstructions, the postoperative evaluation of the obstruction being in part greatly subjective