This article is only available in the PDF format. Download the PDF to view the article, as well as its associated figures and tables.
THE PRESENT corrective procedures for deformities of the lower cartilaginous vault are based upon a reduction of the cartilage mass. For instance, to narrow a wide tip, sections are removed from the angles; to reduce bulbousness, the cephalic margins of the lateral crura are trimmed, and to lessen undue projection, cartilage is resected from the mesial and/or lateral crura (Fig. 1). The chief objection to the procedure is that healing of the deskeletonized lobule is not always predictable, and because of this there frequently results a pinched "surgical" look in a lobule well modeled at the end of the operation. Despite this objection, the method is expedient when the deformity is due to an excess of cartilage. But when the bulk of the cartilage is within normal limits and the deformity caused merely by an abnormal shape, better results can be assured by altering the shape of the cartilage than