Esthetic rhinoplasty as an adjunctive technique in nasal oncoplastic surgery

Background: The nose is a prime esthetic focus of the human face and it is a common site for nonmelanoma skin cancers. Esthetic reconstruction of nasal skin after tumor resection remains a problem. Beside conservative surgical excision of the skin tumor, this article presents a tactic for decreasing the size of the skin defect and optimizing its shape to facilitate reconstruction. Methods: Throughout a period of seven years, thirty-five patients with nonmelanoma cancer of nasal skin were managed by a one stage surgical operation, which entails conservative tumor resection followed by performing an esthetic rhinoplasty that remodels the nasal skeleton in order to shrink the skin defect; making it more amenable to reconstruction by adjacent skin. Results: Results were satisfactory for all patients in terms of adequate tumor resection and pleasant appearance of their noses.