Clinical Experiences with Foreign Body Granuloma of the Nose: 7-Year Experience with 18 Patients

ABSTRACT

PURPOSE: The injection of various materials, including medical fillers and unregulated products, is widespread, potentially causing the development of foreign body granulomas. Should this occur on the nose, the contour deformity and inflammatory signs that result from these granulomas are aesthetically undesirable to patients. The purpose of our study is to share our experiences using different surgical approaches, depending on the affected portion of the nose, to optimize management of this challenging problem and to evaluate patient's satisfaction using our in-house questionnaire along with degree of improvement by two independent plastic surgeons. METHODS: We treated 18 patients who underwent surgical excision of nasal foreign body granulomas via a perilesional approach to the lesion (n=12) or by transcolumellar incision (n=6) at our hospital over a period of seven years from March 2003 to October 2010. Nonparametric statistics were used and are presented as medians (25th-75th). Patient satisfaction was evaluated on a scale of 1 to 5 using an in-house questionnaire. All pre-and post-operative photographs were analyzed by two independent plastic surgeons. Post-operative outcomes were evaluated based on the surgeons' consensus ratings. RESULTS: All patients receiving the transcolumellar approach reported a high level of satisfaction with the results. All but two patients who received the perilesional approach were satisfied with the outcome. No outcomes were rated as no change or worse by the consensus ratings. CONCLUSION: For the upper two-thirds of the nose, perilesional surgical excision can lead to substantial patient satisfaction with modified contour deformity and infection control. The transcolumellar approach resulted in better outcomes and patient satisfaction for the lower one-third of the nose.