Should the High Septal Deviation be Corrected to Improve Nasal Obstruction During Septal Surgery?

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: High dorsal deflection of the nasal septum around cartilage or the perpendicular plate is technically difficult to correct. The objective of this study was to assess whether correction of high septal deviation during septoplasty is necessary to improve nasal airflow. PATIENTS AND SURGICAL METHOD: Twenty-one patients with high septal deviation around the septal cartilage or the perpendicular plate were included in this study. In order to improve nasal obstruction, septoturbinoplasty was performed, but high septal deviation was not corrected. Subjective and objective improvements were evaluated using the visual analogue scale and acoustic rhinometry 1 month before and 3 months after surgery. RESULTS: After correction of nasal septum deviation except high septal deviation and reduction of turbinate mucosal volume, postoperative nasal volume and minimum cross-sectional area were significantly increased. Subjective symptom scales for nasal obstruction, rhinorrhea, sneezing, and posterior nasal drip were considerably improved after limited septoturbinoplasty in patients who still had high dorsal deflection of the nasal septum. CONCLUSION: Our findings suggest that limited septoturbinoplasty without excessive resection of high dorsal deflection of the nasal septum can improve nasal airflow and reduce subjective symptoms, including nasal obstruction.

Recent Observation of Syphilis and Condyloma Acuminatum / 대한피부과학회지

Many authors asserted that the incidence of sexually transmitted disease, especially syphilis, increased recently. We examined the annual reactive rate of VDRL test in 23,886 persons who took a medical check-up for employment from March, 1978 to August, 1981 and the snnual rate of condyloma acuminatum among 91,334 dermatologic outpatients from 1976 to 1980 to estimate the recent trend in sexually transmitted disease. The overall reactive rate of VDRL test was 1.40% and the annual reactive rate is l.85% in 1978, 1.31% in 1979, 0.92% in 1980 and 4.87% in 1981. The biologic false positive rate of VDRL test was 17.5% among 126 patients in whom TPHA test was done, using TPHA test as standard. The overall rate of condyloma acuminatum patients was 0.16% and the annual rate was 0.13% in 1976, 0.21% in 1977, 0.16% in 1978, 0.15% in 1979 and 0.17% in 1980.