title: Benefits of a short, practical questionnaire to measure subjective perception of nasal appearance after aesthetic rhinoplasty.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The authors tested a short, practically designed questionnaire to assess changes in subjective perception of nasal appearance in patients before and after aesthetic rhinoplasty.
  
  
  METHODS
  A prospective cohort study was conducted in a group of 121 patients who desired aesthetic rhinoplasty and were operated on by one surgeon. The questionnaire contained five questions (E1-E5) based on a five-point Likert scale and a visual analogue scale (range, 0 to 10). Two questions were designed as trick questions to help the surgeon screen for signs of body dysmorphic disorder.
  
  
  RESULTS
  All patients rated the appearance of their nose as improved after surgery. The visual analogue scale revealed a Gaussian curve of normal distribution (range, 0.5 to 10) around a significant improvement (mean, 4.36 points, p = 0.018). Also, question E1, question E2, and the sum of questions E1 through E5 showed a statistically significant improvement after surgery (p = 1.74 × 10, p = 4.29 × 10, and p = 9.23 × 10, respectively). The authors found a linear relationship between preoperative score on the trick questions and postoperative increase in visual analogue scale score. Test-retest reliability could be investigated in 74 of 121 patients (61 percent) and showed a positive correlation between postoperative (1 year after surgery) and repostoperative response (2 to 4 years after surgery).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The authors concluded that a surgeon performing aesthetic rhinoplasty can benefit from using this questionnaire. It is simple, takes no more than 2 minutes to complete, and provides helpful subjective information regarding patients' preoperative nasal appearance and postoperative surgical outcome.
  
  
  METHODS
  Therapeutic, IV.
authors.affiliation: Utrecht and Leiden, The Netherlands; and St. Gallen, Switzerland From the Department of Otolaryngology/Head and Neck Surgery, Center for Facial Plastic Reconstructive Surgery, Diakonessen Hospital Utrecht; Leiden Institute of Advanced Computer Science, Leiden University; and the Department of Ear, Nose, and Throat, Cantonal Hospital St. Gallen.
authors.forename: Peter J F M
authors.initials: PJFM
authors.lastname: Lohuis
authors.forename: Sara
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Hakim
authors.forename: Wouter
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Duivesteijn
authors.forename: Arno
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Knobbe
authors.forename: Abel-Jan
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: Tasman
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D004954:Esthetics / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009666:Nose; D017060:Patient Satisfaction; D010465:Perception; D011184:Postoperative Period; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012225:Rhinoplasty / Q000523:psychology*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires / Q000592:standards*; D055815:Young Adult