The cartilaginous nasal dorsum and the postnatal growth of the nose

Abstract

Until now the numerous articles about nasal surgery in children and the associated eweriments have paid little or no attention to the cartilaginous nasal dorsum. Yet the importance of the upper lateral cartilages for the shape of the nose is well known to all who do nasal surgery in adult patients. Inadequate correction of asymmetries of these thin, cartilaginous, plate-like structures leads inevitably to external deviations of the nose. Moreover, there is no detailed description of the upper lateral cartilages in children to be found in the literature. It has apparently been assumed that the anatomy of a child's nose is identical to that of an adult. Consequently, with respect to nasal surgery in children the following questions have to be considered: 1. What is the anatomy of the cartilaginous nasal skeleton and, in particular, the cartilaginous nasal dorsum in children? 2. What is the role of the cartilaginous nasal dorsum (upper lateral cartilages) in the postnatal growth of the nose? The first question is dealt with in the chapters 2 and 3, the second in the chapters 10, 11, 12 and 14. A general discussion will follow in chapter 15