Septodermoplasty in Recurrent Epistaxis Without Hereditary Hemorrhagic Telangiectasia

Abstract

Epistaxis is a common disease, most of which is naturally improved without treatment. However, some patients experience recurrent epistaxis despite having received various treatments. In such cases, the control of epistaxis may require a more invasive technique, such as embolization or surgical ligation of the main feeding arteries of the nasal cavity. However, the nasal septum receives blood supply from various branches of blood vessels, so these vascular controls can be inappropriate. In this case report, we applied septodermoplasty - a surgical technique mostly aimed for the treatment of intractable epistaxis from hereditary hemorrhagic telangiectasia (HHT) - to treat patients suffering recurrent epistaxis from the nasal septum. Although the two patients we treated were non-HHT, our application of this surgical technique turned out to be successful. Here, we suggest expanding the indication of septodermoplasty to non-HHT patients presenting with recurrent and difficult-to-treat epistaxis.