Reconstruction of saddle nose deformity with three-dimensional costal cartilage graft.

Saddle nose deformity is characterized by depression of the nasal bone and the cartilage dorsum associated with a collapse in the upper lateral and alar cartilages. Etiopathogenesis usually involves trauma or invasive excision of the bone and cartilage. Surgical treatment for functional and aesthetic recovery relies on the use of grafts. Options for grafting include autogenous tissue such as bone or cartilage and alloplastic augmentation. Nine patients with saddle nose deformity underwent surgical reconstruction with autogenous costal cartilage. The deformity was the result of trauma in seven patients and secondary to surgery in two patients. Cartilage obtained from the sixth and seventh ribs was used as the graft material to compensate for the low nasal dorsum. Cartilage was used as a single unit and shaped to cover the nasal dorsum and the lateral nasal walls completely. The upper lateral cartilages were fixed to shaped cartilage graft. Additional cartilage grafts into the columella and septum were also placed in all patients. Functional and aesthetic outcome was satisfactory in all patients. As a result, using costal cartilage graft, a single unit allowed more predictable and reliable reconstruction of the saddle nose deformity than the conventional dorsal grafts.