A case of reconstruction of saddle nose deformity in leprosy

A case of reconstructive surgery for saddle nose deformity is presented in this paper. A 22 year-old Bengali female who had completed WHO/MB regimen for 27 months underwent reconstructive surgery for saddle nose deformity. Since a saddle nose is one of the symbols of leprosy, it often causes serious psychological and social troubles to patients. This happens more often when the patient is a young unmarried woman. In this case the saddle nose seemed to be very serious. After being discharged from hospital she got married and had a baby. This operation gave the patient great relief to live in the community, because she no longer had serious visible evidence of leprosy on the body. Though the correction of the deformity without any dysfunction does not always have priority over other surgeries at a busy leprosy control project in Bangladesh, it has merit both in patients themselves and in the society around them because it leads to the elimination of the stigma of leprosy.