Entrapment Neuropathy Causing Persistent Headache Symptoms after Nonsurgical Rhinoplasty

Plast Reconstr Surg Glob Open. 2020 Dec 21;8(12):e3209. doi: 10.1097/GOX.0000000000003209. eCollection 2020 Dec.

Abstract

The frequency of nonsurgical rhinoplasty has increased in recent years. The occurrence of headaches or migraine symptoms, and their treatment following nonsurgical rhinoplasty, have been scarcely described in the literature. Here, we present a patient who presented with subjective complaints of a new onset headache immediately after nonsurgical rhinoplasty, with subsequent reversal of her symptoms using hylauronidase. Furthermore, a literature review was conducted to establish a possible anatomical pathophysiologic mechanism of these symptoms seen in this patient.

Methods: A case report of a patient who developed persistent headache symptoms after nonsurgical rhinoplasty, with reversal of symptoms using hylaronidase, is described. A literature review of studies on patients developing headaches or migraine-like symptoms after nonsurgical rhinoplasty was conducted, along with a review of the anatomic causes of migraines.

Results: Of the 147 relevant citations identified in our search, only 1 individual case report describes a patient who developed a migraine headache after undergoing a nonsurgical rhinoplasty via an injection of hyaluronic acid filler. This was promptly resolved with the utilization of a hyaluronidase injection. The majority of the relevant articles in our search focused on the alarming and most feared complication of vascular compromise of the nasal tissue and intravascular embolization. Within the literature, there was no case series of nonsurgical-rhinoplasty-induced migraines taking into account our inclusion criteria.

Conclusions: This article demonstrates the paucity of literature regarding nonsurgical-rhinoplasty-induced headaches. Although a causation effect cannot be linked, our study highlights a rare phenomenon associated with this ever-increasing aesthetic procedure.