In the procedure known as primary cleft lip rhinoplasty, a patient’s nose is surgically altered at the time of lip repair (thus “primary”) instead of repairing the cleft lip and waiting until later to perform surgery on the nose. The combined cleft lip and nose surgery typically occurs around 3 to 6 months of age.
Three Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) plastic surgeons — Jordan Swanson, MD, Scott Bartlett, MD, and Jesse Taylor, MD — were part of a research team that aimed to precisely identify the individual parts of the nose that are involved in this complex surgery, and present successful techniques for correcting each component. Six specific components were identified and measured prior to surgery, immediately after surgery, and one year after surgery.
The results showed that for the majority of the components for all patients, symmetry improved when measured immediately after surgery. Results were maintained one year after surgery; however, when comparing measurements immediately after surgery and one year after surgery, some components regressed slightly in their symmetry. Therefore, the team determined components in which a slight overcorrection of these components during surgery is recommended — part of the protocol used now by CHOP cleft surgeons.
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In the procedure known as primary cleft lip rhinoplasty, a patient’s nose is surgically altered at the time of lip repair (thus “primary”) instead of repairing the cleft lip and waiting until later to perform surgery on the nose. The combined cleft lip and nose surgery typically occurs around 3 to 6 months of age.
Three Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) plastic surgeons — Jordan Swanson, MD, Scott Bartlett, MD, and Jesse Taylor, MD — were part of a research team that aimed to precisely identify the individual parts of the nose that are involved in this complex surgery, and present successful techniques for correcting each component. Six specific components were identified and measured prior to surgery, immediately after surgery, and one year after surgery.
The results showed that for the majority of the components for all patients, symmetry improved when measured immediately after surgery. Results were maintained one year after surgery; however, when comparing measurements immediately after surgery and one year after surgery, some components regressed slightly in their symmetry. Therefore, the team determined components in which a slight overcorrection of these components during surgery is recommended — part of the protocol used now by CHOP cleft surgeons.
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