The crooked nose: the use of medial iliac crest bone graft as a supporting framework

The crooked nose is one that the vertical axis of the nose inclines from the midline. As a rule, a major septal deformity almost always accompanies to impairing breathing and aesthetic appearance. To achieve total straightening of the crooked nose, the septum must become the target of the treatment. To prevent redeviation, we used rigid bone grafts instead of flexible and relatively weak cartilage to maintain the support of the corrected deformity. Between February 2005 and July 2007, 9 patients (all male) with crooked noses underwent corrective surgery. The mean age of the patients was 21 years (range, 19-23 years). The source of the bone graft was medial side of iliac crest in all patients. The mean follow-up was 18 months, ranging from 10 to 26 months. All patients had both functional and cosmetic problems. Mean operation time was 4 hours. Airway patency was improved in all cases. The grafts did not shift in any case and did not develop unsightly irregularities over time. Absorption of the grafts was not seen in the follow-up. There were no cases of extrusion or infection. No donor site complication occurred. None of the patient required secondary surgery. A residual deviation can be obvious despite all attempts, which has no deleterious effect on patient satisfaction. This article introduces a novel technique for the correction of the crooked nose.