Reconstruction of the Acquired Facial Deformity due to Cancrum Oris Sequelae

ABSTRACT

Acquired facial deformities following cancrum oris sequelae manifested variably according to the nature of tissue necrosis. In cases that tissue loss extends over a wide area of the face, or the tissue nature is different due to congenital facial cleft, it is difficult to reconstruct with a single operation. As cancrum oris has virtually disappeared from our country, clinical report of reconstruction is also rare. We report 5 cases of facial deformities following cancrum oris sequelae. Since 1988, five adult patients(4 female and 1 male) were treated by authors. These patients, with an age ranged from 47 to 58 years, all suffered from acquired facial cleft such as facial mutilation, asymmetry. The stages of operation were from 1 to maximum of 5 operations. All surgeries achieved satisfactory results after a long-term follow-up. But one surgery in the case of palatal mucosal flap for the coverage of reconstructed maxilla alveolar bone resulted tissue sloughness, followed by osteomyelitis. Those were debrided and discarded. In conclusion, all sites of deformities were positioned around one of the oral commissures. In their past medical history, they have been suffering from measles, typhoid fever and unknown febrile illness. We diagnosed the acquired facial deformity following cancrum oris sequelae. The reconstruction of acquired facial deformity following cancrum oris sequelae were difficult due to extensive multiple tissue defects. Therefore multiple staged operations were inevitable. The authors reconstructed 5 cases of simple and complex form of facial deformity with minimum staged\ operations. All patients were satisfied functionally and cosmetically.