Primary cheilorhinoseptoplasty using the Talmant protocol in unilateral complete cleft lip: functional and aesthetic results on nasal correction and comparison with the Tennison–Malek protocol

Abstract

Many surgical procedures used to treat patients with unilateral complete cleft lip do not include a complete primary rhinoseptoplasty, which is delayed until the end of growth as part of secondary surgery. Primary cheilorhinoseptoplasty using the Talmant technique has been performed at Lapeyronie University Hospital, Montpellier for 15 years. This retrospective study evaluated and compared the functional and aesthetic results obtained in such patients at 4–6 years after surgery with those obtained without primary rhinoseptoplasty in patients undergoing the Tennison–Malek technique. This study included a cohort of 60 children who presented a unilateral complete cleft lip: 29 were operated on with the Tennison–Malek technique and 31 with the Talmant technique. Three functional and 14 aesthetic criteria were evaluated. All functional criteria showed better results in the Talmant group: nocturnal nasal breathing (P < 0.001), incidence of closed rhinolalia (P = 0.0019), and presence of asymmetric nasal breathing (P < 0.001). Concerning the aesthetic results, all criteria evaluated on the frontal and basal photographs of each patient showed significantly better results in the Talmant technique group. The rate of satisfactory results was> 75% for 12 of the 14 criteria in the Talmant group, compared with none of the 14 criteria in the Tennison–Malek group.