Proposal for Perioperative Pharmacological Protocol for the Reduction in Early Complications in Orthorhinoseptoplasty: Five Years of Experience

Septorhinoplasty is a crucial intervention in functional and aesthetic facial surgery. Although rare and usually manageable, complications could lead to disfiguring consequences. There is no universal protocol for perioperative management in the literature. The aim of this article is to analyze the surgical complications in patients who underwent open rhinoseptoplasty and were treated in the perioperative period with the standardized protocol used in our department, in order to propose it as a standardized protocol for a more global application. Methods: The patients included underwent rhinoplasty between 2017 and 2022 and were managed with the same treatment protocol. Perioperative and intraoperative data, as well as possible complications, were collected. Results: A total of 129 patients were included, 73% of which reported either mild or no complications. Abnormal scar healing was the most frequent complaint (9%), followed by edema (6.2%), nasal dyspnea (3.9%), infection (2.3%), and bleeding (2.3%). No severe complications were reported. Conclusions: Our protocol appears to be effective in minimizing complications such as infection and bleeding, although it is very difficult to compare the results with the literature.