Treatment Modalities to Achieve Nasal Symmetry in Unilateral Cleft Lip/Nasal Deformity: An Objective and Comparative Evaluation.

Introduction: Primary cleft lip repair techniques do not address the nasal deformity adequately resulting in nasal asymmetry. Maneuvers employed to minimize this have varying degrees of success.

Aim: To assess the outcome of different treatment modalities employed to establish nasal symmetry in unilateral cleft lip.

Methods: 100 patients with complete unilateral cleft lip/ palate operated for primary cheiloplasty with modified Millard's rotation advancement technique were divided into five groups. Group 1: lip repair alone, Group 2: NAM followed by lip repair, Group 3: lip repair followed by placement of conformers, Group 4: NAM followed by lip repair and placement of conformers, Group 5: lip repair with semi-open rhinoplasty. Objective assessment was done using measurable parameters after 12 months post-operatively on a 1:1 standard photograph.

Results: Group 5 showed statistical significance in all parameters assessed. Progressive improvement in nasal symmetry was noted from Group 1 to Group V.

Conclusion: In our study, group V, i.e., modified Millard's repair with semi-open rhinoplasty improved the results in terms of all the objective parameters assessed. The results of the other groups showed improvement though not consistent in all parameters. Naso-alveolar molding is an effective adjunct. Additionally, nasal conformers proved to be of great value in retaining the results obtained post-surgery.