Alar expansion and reinforcement: a new technique to manage nasal valve collapse.

OBJECTIVE: To describe the new technique of alar expansion and reinforcement as a comprehensive approach to the surgical management of nasal valve collapse. METHODS: Alar expansion and reinforcement expands the narrow nasal valve and reinforces the floppy nasal sidewall. Forty-one patients underwent rhinoplastic surgery for nasal valve collapse between May 1, 2002, and April 30, 2005, using an external rhinoplasty approach; of these, 32 responded to our postoperative questionnaire. Twenty-four patients (75%) underwent primary surgery and 8 (25%) had undergone previous rhinoplasty. All patients had permanent adjustable expansion sutures. Twelve patients (38%) had an excessively floppy nasal sidewall that required a high-density porous polyethylene alar batten implant to anchor the expansion sutures. Patients underwent clinical review from 6 months to 3 years after surgery, and a telephone survey was used to evaluate their functional and cosmetic satisfaction rates. RESULTS: Thirty patients (94%) experienced good improvement in their nasal airway. The improvement in nasal airway patency was statistically significant (P<.001). Two patients (6%) reported no improvement. There were no complications. Cosmetic outcome was satisfactory in all 8 patients who also requested cosmetic improvement. Of the 24 patients who had surgery for nasal obstruction only, 10 (42%) rated their cosmetic appearance as better, with the remaining 14 (58%) indicating that they did not identify any significant change in their nasal appearance. CONCLUSION: Alar expansion and reinforcement is a safe, reliable, and effective technique to manage nasal valve collapse.

Outcomes of submandibular duct relocation: a 15-year experience.

Drooling is common in patients with neurological disability and a major factor affecting quality of life. Management of this problem is best carried out by a team approach using surgical and non-surgical methods. Submandibular duct relocation is a commonly performed procedure with low complication rate. This procedure has been carried out in 56 patients over the last 14 years at the Belfast City Hospital by the senior author. All the patients underwent physiotherapy for six months before they were selected for surgery. All the patients were over five years of age and most had severe neurological impairment. For the purposes of this study, all the patients were followed by a questionnaire regarding symptomatic improvement, parent satisfaction and complication rate. All case notes were also reviewed retrospectively. Parental satisfaction was high and drooling was significantly reduced in 49 cases. The main complication was ranula formation seen in five cases. The most significant area of parental concern was post-operative pain. It is important to counsel the parents regarding the post-operative pain relief as well as failure rate of the procedure. It can be concluded that this procedure is a safe and highly successful procedure, which significantly improves the quality of life.