Functional Reconstructive Nasal Surgery 2nd Edition

Review by C Hopkins
Guy’s & St. Thomas’ Hospitals, London

I was hoping that good text books were like buses and, having been sent some crackers to review over the last few months, I was looking forward to another. Sadly, for the first time in a while, I was disappointed. A little bit like my local bus, no. 53, I waited and waited, but the good bits never came.

There is a long chapter on anatomy, with much duplication between diagrams and histological sections, that failed to add to my understanding. Similarly, while the nomenclature of the different type of functional deformities is very clearly described (hump nose, saddle nose, tension nose etc), a second chapter repeats these descriptions and even uses the same diagrams.

The strength of this book is the excellent chapter on septal surgery, which is so often neglected in both books and surgeons’ training alike. I particularly like the attention to detail in the section on prevention and management of septal perforations, even including a top tip on inserting septal buttons (sew one flange into a roll, then cut the suture after you’ve got it through the perforation). However, with no mention of extracorporeal septoplasty, and when one might consider this approach (note from reviewer – almost never!), it felt as if it was a little behind the times.

There are some lovely diagrams but a paucity of clinical images. Although I haven’t read the first edition of this book, I suspect that little has changed – it feels very dated in several parts.  There is a rather odd chapter on ‘endonasal sinus surgery’, which appears to have been written long before the advent of the endoscope. It covers sinus surgery in 5 pages, with half of this describing an inferior meatal antrostomy; I think that there is a risk that my dim view of this chapter has significantly tarnished my opinion on the rest of the book, but it really has no place in this textbook.

There are some great books coming onto the market at the moment, and if you are shopping for a rhinoplasty book, I would recommend that you save up a little longer and buy the other recent release from Thieme; Sclafarni’s Rhinoplasty. Sorry Messers Huizing and de Groot, but in the words of my son’s latest school report, I think you need to try harder!

Amazon Link: Functional Reconstructive Nasal Surgery 2nd Edition
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