RÉSUMÉ
Objective To investigate the clinical effect of type A botulinum toxin and nipple retractor in correcting severe inverted nipples.Methods All the patients with bilateral severe inverted nipples that sought consulting in the Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery Center of Peking Union Medical College Hospital were included in this study and the patients were randomized into different treatment group with nipple retractor only or BTX-A (Lanzhou,China) combined with nipple retractor.In the combined therapy group,50 u BTX-A was injected into the bottom of each nipple.2 weeks later,nipple retractor was placed and kept wearing for 6 months.For the retractor only group,no BTX-A was used.All the patients were followed up at 1 month,3 months and 6 months after the operation.Nipple projection was measured according to the profile view of pre-and post-operation.Effectiveness and complication rate were compared between the two groups.Results 20 patients were included in this study.Average nipple projection in the combined therapy group was (1.12±0.13) cm,(0.95± 0.10) cm and (0.73±0.11) cm (3 months,6 months and 12 months post-operation,respectively),which had a significant difference from that of the retractor group [(0.81±0.10) cm,(0.72±0.12) cm and (0.53±0.10) cm].Total complication rate of combined group was also lower than that of retractor group.The complications of the combined therapy group included hypopigmentation (1 case),without skin ulcer or wire dislocation.However in the retractor group,complications included skin ulcer (2 cases),hypopigmentation (1 case) and dislocation (1 case).No severe complications such as nipple necrosis happened in both groups.Conclusions BTX-A combined with nipple retractor is an effective method in correcting severe inverted nipple with low complication rate.