Parotid surgery often leaves a facial contour deformity. Free abdominal dermal-fat grafts were used to preserve the facial contour of nine patients undergoing parotid surgery. This procedure is simple to perform and provides an improved cosmetic result without significantly increasing operative time or lengthening hospitalization. No troublesome fat absorption occurred postoperatively. The dermal-fat graft also serves as a barrier to regenerating neurons, thereby preventing postoperative gustatory sweating.

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Laryngomalacia is the commonest cause of congenital stridor. The majority of cases are mild and do not require surgical intervention. However in approximately 10 per cent of these infants the condition is life-threatening. The standard treatment for these patients has been to perform a tracheostomy. Recent reports have shown encouraging results following endoscopic surgery to the supraglottic structures. We report a series of twelve patients in whom a tracheostomy was avoided by performing an aryepiglottic fold trim--'aryepiglottoplasty'. Dramatic improvements were seen in the respiratory obstruction and failure to thrive following surgery.

One hundred eight consecutive patients with pediatric laryngotracheal stenosis requiring airway reconstruction over a 10-year period were reviewed. One hundred forty-nine operations consisting of 75 laryngotracheoplasties and 74 laryngotracheal reconstructions with costal cartilage grafting were performed. The Cotton grading scheme of preoperative stenosis was useful in predicting likelihood of decannulation. In all, 90 patients (83%) were decannulated.

The data tentatively suggest that acupuncture decreases perceived pain in children and adolescents after tonsillectomy. These data - combined with the cost effectiveness, safety and ease of administering acupuncture - suggest that further studies exploring the effectiveness of acupuncture in juveniles after tonsillectomy are merited.