One Stage Correction of the Severe Secondary Cleft Lip Nasal Deformities in Foreigners

PURPOSE: It is accepted universally that correction of the cleft lip nasal deformity requires multiple stages of surgery. Following primary lip repair in infancy or early childhood, secondary surgery to improve the deformity of the lip and nose is frequently necessary. A suitable surgical procedure to correct the accompanying deformity, such as cleft palate and alveolus, must be carried out at an appropriate age. In developing countries, it is common for patients with cleft lip nasal deformity to present severe secondary deformities in adolescence, because of poor follow-up and inappropriate surgery. METHODS: The first patient was a 12 year old Mongolian boy. He presented prominent lip scar, short lip, wide columella, asymmetric nostril, palatal fistula, cleft alveolus, and velopharyngeal incompetence. He underwent cheilorhinoplasty, transpositional flap, alveoloplasty by iliac bone graft, and sphincter pharyngoplasty. On follow-up, a bilateral maxillary hypoplasia and a class III malocclusion developed. He underwent LeFort I osteotomy and maxillary advancement at the age of 16 years. The second patient was an 18 year old Eastern Russian girl. She presented with a deviated nose, right alar base depression, short lip, protrusion on vermilion, large palatal fistula, and severe VPI due to short palate. She underwent the combined procedure of cheilorhinoplasty, corrective rhinoplasty, tongue flap for palatal fistula, and superiorly based pharyngeal flap. And the tongue flap was detached at postoperative 3 weeks. RESULTS: The overall results have been extremely pleasing and satisfactory to patients. There were no postoperative complications. CONCLUSION: We discovered the one stage operation for radical correction was sufficient procedure to provide excellent clinical outcomes in patients with severe cleft lip nose deformity.

A comparative study on the correction methods of nostril in patients with cleft lip nasal deformity

The secondary correction of cleft lip nasal deformity (CLND) presents difficult surgical problems. Characteristically, nostrils are asymmetric. The present study was aimed to examine and compare the effect of Straith's alar web Z-plasty, Millard's alar web Z-plasty, alar web excision, and lateral V-Y advancement of the alar base for augmentation of the nostril with or without lengthening the columella in CLND. The subjects were 28 patients with unilateral cleft lip, who had secondary nostril correction. The nostril correction methods were Straith's alar web Z-plasty, Millard's alar web Z-plasty, alar web excision, and lateral V-Y advancement of the alar base. Facial photographs were taken before and 20 days after the operation. By using Adobe photoshop, the columella length and the nostril width were measured from the facial frontal photograph and Worm's eye view. The degree of improvement was calculated and statistically analyzed. The degree of improvement of the columella length using Straith's alar web Z-plasty was 70.20%. And then Millard's alar web Z-plasty was 55.01%, alar web excision was 39.93%, and lateral V-Y advancement of the alar base was 16.38% in order. The degree of improvement of the nostril size using lateral V-Y advancement of the alar base was 55.26%. And then alar web excision was 52.72%, Millard's alar web Z-plasty was 34.86%, and Straith's alar web Z-plasty was 16.06% in order. Straith's alar web Z-plasty and Millard's alar web Z-plasty resulted in elongation of the columella, equalization of asymmetrical nostril, and enlargement of small nostrils. Alar web excision enlarged nostrils and restored symmetry. Lateral VY advancement of the alar base increased nostril width and enlarged nostrils. These results indicate that the correction of nostrils improve the shape and the symmetry of the nostrils in CLND.

Correction of cleft lip nasal deformities with l-shaped iliac bone graft