Lipogranuloma is the reaction of adipose tissue to various oils, paraffin, and other hydrocarbons injected into subcutaneous tissue for cosmetic or other reasons. The authors experienced a case of sclerosing lipogranuloma on the nasal dorsum.

A 42-year-old female, without a history of the injection of any foreign materials, was admitted on our hospital for a painless, irregular, and firm mass located on her nasal dorsum with step-off deformity. It was considered that the mass had developed after augmentation rhinoplasty. The size of mass had been increased after closed reduction of nasal bone fracture. On April 2011, under general anesthesia, the mass was removed by open rhinoplasty technique. In addition, a pathologic examination was performed. After the mass extirpation, dermofat graft was performed for the correction of depression deformity.

The histopathological findings demonstrated a Swiss cheese pattern with variably-sized vacuoles, which corresponded to lipid removed with tissue processing, and variable foreign body giant cell reaction, fat necrosis, and hyalinized fibrous tissue. The pathologic diagnosis is lipogranuloma replacing nasalis muscle. It has been considered that sclerosing lipogranuloma is caused by nerve injury during augmentation rhinoplasty and the ointment used after the closed reduction of nasal bone fracture, which infiltrated through the injured mucosa.

During the treatment of rhinoplasty or nasal bone fracture, the nerve injury or the ointment use can lead to lipogranuloma. Therefore, careful dissection for avoidance of the nerve injury and limited use of ointment seems to be helpful in decreasing incidence of lipogranuloma.