It is each day more usual to see patients undergoing male to female gender reassignment having more feminine facial profiles as a result of nasal surgery, this can be now confirmed by a report in Archives of Facial Plastic Surgery (JAMA/Archives), September /October issue.  Transsexualism in our days is recognized as a medical condition with an estimated incidence of one in 37 000, it is defined as a condition affecting individuals who strongly believe themselves to have been born into the body of the wrong sex.  There are a number of medical and surgical approaches aimed at aligning the patient's physical appearance with his or her perceived sex. 

In the mentioned report S. A. Reza Noureai, M.B.B.Chir., Charing Cross Hospital, London, England, and team looked at 12 male-to-female gender reassignment patients who had had surgery on the nose (rhinoplasty) during the period 1998-2004.  

Two independent observers looked at the patients' facial profile before and after their rhinoplasty, as well as measuring specific facial angles. Each patient's nasal function had been tested before, and then after surgery. Participants were also asked to rate, out of five, their satisfaction with the operation one year after it was performed.

About their results the team said  "The surgical procedure resulted in a more feminine nasal profile in all patients. One patient was subjectively unhappy with the results of surgery and underwent revision surgery, and the remaining patients were very satisfied with the results of surgical treatment, both in the early postoperative period and at the one-year follow-up visit. Five patients stated at the one-year visit that their nasal procedure had had one of the greatest impacts on their overall perception of themselves as female."

This is only one of the procedures performed to help these patients in their "feminization" you can read more about rhinoplasty and other procedures in our PROCEDURES section and more shortly in AT A GLANCE.

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