Nasalis Island Pedicle Flap for Reconstruction of the Nasal Defect / 대한피부과학회지

BACKGROUND: Reconstruction of surgical defects of the nose is often challenging. There are many repair options for a nasal defect, including second-intention healing, primary closure, a skin graft and a skin flap. Among these, the nasalis island pedicle flap is a random pattern advancement flap that has satisfactory vascular supplies from the underlying muscular structure. OBJECTIVE: We wanted to describe the surgical technique of creating a nasalis island pedicle flap and to report on our experience with the postoperative cosmetic outcome. METHODS: Fourteen patients diagnosed with non-malignant melanoma skin cancer on the nose were treated with Mohs micrographic surgery (MMS). The surgical defects were reconstructed with a nasalis island pedicle flap. The size of the tumor and the postoperative surgical defects, the local complications and the cosmetic outcomes were assessed. RESULTS: The size of the primary defects ranged from 0.8 to 2.3 cm at the greatest dimension (with a mean of 1.51 cm). Five cases were located on the nasal ala, three on the nasal dorsum, two on the nasal root, two on the nasal side wall and two on the nasal tip. During the follow-up period, there was no significant postoperative bleeding, necrosis and infection. There was no tumor recurrence and most of the patients showed minimal discernable scarring with satisfactory aesthetic outcomes. CONCLUSION: A nasalis island pedicle flap provided aesthetically pleasing results, and it could be an useful method to reconstruct surgical defects in the nose after MMS.

Reconstruction of Defects on the Lower Part of the Nose using Nasalis Island Pedicle Flap / 대한피부과학회지

Reconstruction of surgical defects of the nose, particularly the lower one third, is often challenging. The skin of this area is less mobile and fixed on lower structures without a subcutaneous fatty layer. Thus, dissection of tissues is rather difficult and more bleeding can occur during dissection. Furthermore, flap surgery will fail if the flap extends too far. Local flap surgery is one of the more useful techniques that maintains the function and aesthetics of a normal nose. Among these, the nasalis muscle is relatively easy and provides better outcomes. More importantly, vascular supplies from the underlying muscular structure provide greater viability. Additional movement can be achieved by either dissecting under the transverse nasalis or by dividing the transverse nasalis beyond the midline. We report 5 cases of nasalis island pedicle flaps using nasalis muscles. The final results were relatively satisfactory for both functional and cosmetic aspects.