GIANT RHINOPHYMA: MANAGING A SOCIAL RECLUSE

Giant Rhinophyma: A Rare Case of Total Nasal Obstruction and Restitutio Ad Integrum

Rhinophyma is considered the end stage in the development of rosacea, accompanied by hypertrophy of the sebaceous glands, which causes an enlargement of the nose. It is an uncommon condition that often results in both functional and cosmetic impairment. A large variety of surgical and nonsurgical treatments have been published to treat it. Closure is usually obtained by wound granulating in by secondary intention, skin grafting or local flaps. Rarely these lesions can attain a giant size and pose a challenge in surgical treatment. We present a 63-year-old male with the necessity for tracheostomy at the ICU due to total nasal obstruction and recurrent episodes of pneumonia caused by a huge giant rhinophyma, which had undergone extreme growth in the last five years. The tumor was removed under general anesthesia by decortication with an electrosurgical wire loop to recreate the aesthetic units of the nose preserving the alar cartilage as well as the pilosebaceous appendages. The wounds healed in by secondary intention with a very pleasant cosmetic and improved functional result. The relevant literature is discussed. Level of Evidence V This journal requires that authors assign a level of evidence to each article. For a full description of these Evidence-Based Medicine ratings, please refer to the Table of Contents or the online Instructions to Authors www.springer.com/00266 .

Gnatophyma and Otophyma

Background:

Phymas are slowly progressive, disfiguring disorders of the face and ears that represent the end stage of rosacea. The most common phyma is rhinophyma, yet similar swellings may occur on the chin (gnatophyma), forehead (metophyma), one or both ears (otophyma), and eyelids (blepharophyma).

Objective: Unlike rhinophyma, otophyma is rarely seen. We report two rare phymas:

a case of gnatophyma and a case of otophyma.

Methods:

A 56-year-old African American man presented with a history of bumps on his chin that had begun about 7 years earlier. Physical examination was remarkable for lobulated plaques on the chin, coalescing into hypertrophic nodules and dilated pores. A 73-year-old African American male presented with bilateral cauliflower-like earlobe growths for the past 17 years.

Results:

A skin biopsy was performed for each patient demonstrating cystic follicular dilatation with keratin plugging, dermal scarring, psoriasiform epidermal hyperplasia, and chronic inflammation of some of the follicles.

Conclusion:

This case report describes a relatively rare gnatophyma and otophyma. Surgical management is well accepted as the best mode of therapy to treat rhinophyma and is becoming a first-line treatment for all phymas.

[Treatment of a voluminous rhinophyma]

OBJECTIVE

The purpose of this study was to present an advanced case of rhinophyma and to discuss the pathophysiology, clinical presentation and treatment of this pathology.

CASE REPORT

A 75-year-old patient presented to the ENT out-patient department with a large rhinophyma causing nasal obstruction and eating problems in addition to its aesthetic social burden.

RESULTS

The patient was operated under antibiotic coverage. The operated site was left to heal and later covered with a full-thickness skin graft. During the 5-year postoperative follow-up period, there were no complications, no recurrence of the rhinophyma, and the patient retained a good aesthetic result.

CONCLUSION

Rhinophyma is the highest of the four grades of rosacea progression. The diagnosis is usually clinical. Surgical treatment is reserved for the advanced nodular forms and is performed under antibiotic coverage in order to prevent the risk of chondrolysis of the nasal cartilages.