THE RELEVANCE OF RHINOPLASTY AND SEPTOPLASTY FROM THE COMMISSIONERS
The National Health Service in England and United Kingdom overall is experiencing significant difficulty and therefore this has led to the constant monitoring of low clinical value treatment.
One of the treatments that is particularly applicable to my practice is Rhinoplasty and Septorhinoplasty commonly called the “Nose job”.
Recently there was a paper that was published which included a study of 207 Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs) which look at the value of treatments within the NHS. Out of the 200 CCGs that replied it was apparent that approximately 90% allowed surgery for nasal blockage. However, there is no uniformity in terms of assessment of nasal blockage. Other reasons for authorising rhinoplasty included cleft palate patients and post traumatic patients. These patients were allowed to have a rhinoplasty on the NHS even though there were NO signs of nasal obstruction.
The clear message from the paper is of course, cosmetic rhinoplasty or purely cosmetic rhinoplasty is not allowed in the current economic climate.
In my personal opinion I would also argue that snoring and obstructive sleep apnoea improves to a significant degree in a select cohort of patients following septoplasty or septorhinoplasty for nasal obstruction. Unfortunately, this criteria is not given enough attention currently.
Finally, anyone choosing to have a cosmetic nasal procedure should research their surgeon and hospital carefully. A surgeon certified by the European Board of Facial Plastic Surgery is possibly best qualified to perform such procedures, although other well trained and experienced surgeons may also be equally competent.
