COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF SURGICAL METHODS USED TO CORRECT THE WIDTH OF THE LATERAL WINGS OF THE NASAL BASE IN PATIENTS WITH CLEFT LIP

Abstract

Patients born with a cleft lip often have a deformity of the base of the lateral wings of the nose on the affected side. This deformity is usually unilateral, but can sometimes be bilateral. Surgical procedures aimed at correcting the base of the lateral wings of the nose may not give the expected result in some cases; in such cases, secondary rhinoplasty is necessary. The term “lateral wing base surgery” refers to any surgical intervention performed in the area of the lateral wing base complex of the nasal tip. The concept of “lateral wing base” refers to the lateral wing part of the nasal tip, the area where it meets the nasolabial fold of the face. This part appears as the “base” of the lateral wing complex in the basal (lower) view of the nasal tip. Surgery on the lateral wing base is performed for two main purposes: to widen the base of the narrowed lateral wings of the nose or to narrow the base of the wide lateral wings of the nose. However, in the practice of many surgeons, the term "nasal base surgery" is more often used in the sense of narrowing (reduction) of the nasal base. This article aims to highlight the methods of narrowing the wide nasal base in patients born with a cleft lip, their differences and important aspects.