Rhinophyma: analysis of the shave excision technique

INTRODUCTION: The rhinophyma is an extremely stigmatizing condition for a patient. The first descriptions of this disease dates back to the time of Hippocrates, which was popular known as alcoholic nose or nasal elephantiasis is responsible for generating a huge deformity in the nose. This deformity derives from a process of hyperplasia and hypertrophy of the sebaceous glands in nasal skin associated with fibrosis and dilated local blood vessels and connective tissue. Surgery is considered the treatment of choice for aesthetic improvement of the injury. METHODS: This was a retrospective study based on analysis of results from 11 patients (10 men and 1 woman) who underwent treatment for rhinophyma between January 2010 to January 2016 at the Plastic Surgery Service of the Teaching Hospital of Federal University of Juiz de Fora and Clinical Plastic Center. RESULTS: Of 11 patients who underwent surgery, a 72-year-old man had basal expansive invasive carcinoma with positive surgical margins after pathological examination of the surgical specimen, however, the patient had pathological free margins after reoperation. Other 3 patients had hypercromy in the intervention region during the immediate postoperative. CONCLUSION: Despite technological advances, the removal of the injury with a cold scalpel technique and the use of postoperative dressings are highly efficient, when combined, provide excellent aesthetic results with low complication rates and high rates of patients' satisfaction, whom mostly had improvement in quality of life after the procedure.