Rhinectomy has traditionally been a form of disfiguring judicial corporal punishment. The ancient Egyptians removed the noses of some criminals and exiled them to the Sinai towns of Tjaru or Rhinocorura, whose own name was Greek for "nose removal". The Byzantine Empire, believing that their emperor should represent a human ideal, removed the noses of both criminals and rival emperors, with the idea that such disfigurement disqualified its recipients from office. The notable exception was the second reign of Justinian II, who gained the epithet Rhinotmetus or "the Slit-Nose".^{[citation needed]}

• List of surgeries by type