Original Article

Total Correction of Primary Cleft Lip Nase Deformity

Yang Woo Kim
Author Information & Copyright
Department of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, College of Medicine, Ewha Womans University, Korea.

Copyright ⓒ 1998. Ewha Womans University School of Medicine. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Published Online: Jun 30, 1998

Abstract

Objectives

The cleft lip nose deformity is caused by multiple factors that include displa-cement of the lower laterial cartilage, with flattening and false lengthening on the cleft side with shifts of the columella, septum and underlying skeletal base. Many plastic surgeons have felt that early rhinoplasty in cleft lip interferes with the growth of nose, causes increased deformity. Then this study was performed to find the result of the early surgery in the clefe nasal recon-struton.

Methods

The alar cartilage was repositioned by freeing it from the skin and nasal lining without its exposure through the incision of cleft lip repair and shifting it to a new position at the time of pirmay cleft lip repair. The repositioned lower lateral cartilage was stabilized in its new position by using through and througn sutures tied over stents. These stent sutures went through the skin, cartilage and nasal lining. The nasal soft tissues were released from the skele-tal base, reshaped.

Results

Improvement in the cleft nasal deformity is noted in most cases. Especially the colu-mella inclination was completely corrected. The nasal dome on the cleft side shows the good contour and projection of the tip, which projects in an equal fashion to the concleft side. The nasal alar symmetry with equal projection of the lobule was observed on the cleft and noncleft side.

Conclusion

Early surgical correction of cleft lip nose deformity doesn't interferes with the growth of nose and promotes more normal grown by early proper contour and position of the lower lateral cartilage. It is more important to take better psychological development and good self-image before the adverse effedct of deformity cause damage.

Keywords: Cleft lip; Primary rhinoplasty; Alar cartilage rearrangement