Clinical effect of triangle flap from nasal vestibule on minor unilateral incomplete cleft lip

Abstract

Objective To evaluate the clinical efficacy of triangle flap from the nasal vestibule on correcting the minor form unilateral incomplete cleft lip. Methods 72 patients with the minor-form unilateral incomplete cleft lip were invloved in this study. Based on different surgical procedures, all the patients were divided into two groups: 36 patients were treated with harvesting a triangle flap from the nasal vestibule, rotating, increasing lip height; other 36 patients were treated with Millard method as control group. The positive photographs of two groups of patients were taken one year after surgery. Lip height, lip width, nostril width, nostril circumference and visible scar area were measured and compared statistically. Results Good rate of the group of the triangle flap from nasal vestibule was 91.6% (33/36), but that of the group of Millard method was 72.2% (29/36) (P 0.05). But there was significant difference in laberal scar between the group of the triangle flap from nasal vestibule (0.510±0.004) mm2 and the control group of Millard method (0.830±0.009) mm2 (P<0.05). Conclusions The nasal vestibule triangle flap method can significantly decrease the visible scar on lip and achieve the same good result compared to traditional Millard method. Key words: Unilateral incomplete cleft lip; Minor-form cleft; Nasal vestibule