The surgical management of contralateral inferior turbinate hypertrophy in patients with deviated nasal septum is controversial. In this randomised clinical trial, we aimed to investigate the subjective improvement of nasal symptoms postoperatively in patients undergoing septoplasty with or without inferior turbinoplasty.

One hundred and thirty-seven patients with nasal obstruction, who had unilateral septal deviation and compensatory contralateral inferior turbinate enlargement, were randomised into either septoplasty alone arm (n=66) or septoplasty combined with turbinoplasty arm (n=71). Preoperative symptom scores and the subjective perception of the nasal obstruction were compared between two groups of the study using Nasal Obstruction Symptom Evaluation Scale (NOSE) and Visual analog scale (VAS) respectively. The measurements were repeated 6 months after surgery as well as at 1, 2, and 4 years postoperatively.

With regard to the findings obtained from both scales, both interventions successfully relieved the patients’ complaints of nasal obstruction at almost all postoperative visits when compared with the baseline measurements (P˂0.005 for most comparisons). However, the relief of nasal obstruction was more pronounced in patients undergoing combined intervention at all postoperative visits, except at the 1st follow-up session (P˂0.005). Nasal symptoms of septoplasty alone group began to deteriorate over the period between month 24 and month 48. In contrast, patients undergoing the combined surgery steadily showed symptomatic improvement over the whole period of study.

A turbinate reduction surgery should be conducted along with septoplasty to achieve better results in cases suffering from deviated nasal septum with concomitant hypertrophied inferior turbinate.