Reconstruction of Nasal Defects With Dermal Skin Substitutes-A Retrospective Study of 36 Defects

It is uncertain whether dermal regeneration templates (DRTs) are helpful to reconstruct nasal defects. The aim of this study was to assess whether the aesthetic subunits determine the outcome.

In this unicentric, retrospective study, the surgical procedures and outcomes of patients who received DRTs to reconstruct nasal defects were assessed and compared with the involved aesthetic subunits.

DRTs were used for reconstruction of 36 nasal defects in 35 patients with involvement of 76 aesthetic subunits: nasal sidewall (n = 21), nasal ala (n = 13), nasal tip/columella (n = 12, n = 1, respectively), nasal dorsum (n = 12), and extranasal aesthetic areas (n = 17). Fifty-eight nasal and 8 extranasal aesthetic subunits were reconstructed with DRTs, 10 subunits with a flap. Twenty-nine of 36 defects healed without any complications (80.5%). All reconstructed nasal tips/columella and the nasal dorsa healed without any complications. Region-specific complications were retraction of the ala rim (4/12; 33.3% of the patients with involvement of the nasal ala) and the formation of a fistula in the nasal sidewall (1/21; 4.8%). Region-specific complications of extranasal subunits were the development of an ectropium (2/3; 66.7% of the patients with involvement of the lower lid).

DRTs can be helpful to reconstruct nasal defects. However, if the defect involves the aesthetic subunits nasal ala or the infraorbital region, different techniques should be preferred.