Nasal reconstruction: a challenge for plastic surgery.

INTRODUCTION: Surgeons from a number of different specialties are now more commonly performing nasal reconstruction procedures to repair deformities resulting from trauma or tumor resection. Whenever a nasal reconstruction is performed, it is very important that the currently well-established plastic surgical techniques in this area should be correctly applied.

METHODS: Overview of the surgical techniques for nasal reconstruction applied to typical nasal defects, on the basis of a selective review of the literature.

RESULTS: Any of the structurally important layers of the nose (skin, cartilaginous framework, inner lining) that are missing must be reconstructed. The current techniques follow the principle of esthetic reconstruction. Thorough patient counseling enables the patient to cope with temporally protracted treatment, to withstand the associated social and psychological stress, and to decide whether to undergo an autologous reconstruction or a prosthetic replacement.

DISCUSSION: The operating surgeon must have a great deal of experience in nasal reconstruction. The surgeon must, therefore, be a specialist with a particular emphasis in this area.