The definitive correction of secondary lip nasal deformities is a great challenge for plastic surgeons. To rectify the secondary lip nasal deformities, various procedures and its modifications have been reported in many centers. However, no universal agreement exist to correct the various components of secondary nasal deformities.
The secondary nasal deformity of the unilateral cleft lip has its own characteristic abnormalities including the retroplaced dome of the ipsilateral nasal tip, hooding of the alar rim, a secondary alar-columellar web, short columella, depressed alar base and so forth. Among these components of secondary nasal deformity, maxillary hypoplasia, especially in the area of piriform aperture, and alveolar bone defect can make the alar base depressed, which in turn, leads to wide and flat nasal profile, obtuse nasolabial angle coupled with subnormal nasal tip projection in aspect of aesthetic consideration. Moreover, the maxillary hypoplasia contributes to reduced size of the nasal airway in combination with other component of external nasal deformity and therefore the nasal obstruction may be developed functionally.
Therefore, the current authors have performed corrective rhinoplasty with the augmentation of alar base with various methods which include rearrangement of soft tissue, vertical scar tissue flap and use of allogenic or autologous materials in 42 patients between 1998 and 2003.
The symmetric alar base could be achieved, which provides the more accurate evaluation and more appropriate management of the various component of any coexisting secondary nasal deformity. In conclusion, the augmentation of alar base, as a single procedure, is a basic and essential to correct the secondary lip nasal deformities.
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