Donor site morbidities of concha cartilage harvesting using a retroauricular approach for cleft rhinoplasty: retrospective study

Abstract

Cleft lip and palate (CLP) are common deformities in the oral and maxillofacial regions. Cleft lip (CL) is found with or without cleft palate (CP) in 1 in 1,000 newborns 1 . The incidence of isolated CP is approximately 1 in 2,500. CLP is becoming more common among Asians than among Caucasians and Africans. Children born with CLP can experience functional and esthetic problems throughout life if treatment is not completed at an appropriate early age. Cleft nasal deformity is one of the deformities observed in patients with CLP. In addition to facial aesthetic issues, CLP patients also have dif-ficulty breathing 2 . Septorhinoplasty is recommended for cleft nasal deformities. Secondary rhinoplasty is one of the most challenging surgical procedures due to the severe anatomical distortions and scarring from previous surgeries [3][4][5] .Various materials are used to reconstruct the nasal form among patients with clefts, such as autologous cartilage, silicone implants 6 , and expanded polytetrafluoroethylene 7 . Polymer-based alloplastic material is associated with a higher rate of complications. Additionally, postoperative infection and material extrusion have been documented 8 . In contrast, surgeons favor autologous cartilage grafts for cleft rhinoplasty because their use is associated with fewer postoperative complications. Concha cartilage, septal cartilage, and costal cartilage are all used for cleft rhinoplasty. Concha cartilage has several advantages over the other choices: it is easy to harvest and sculpt and can provide enough quantity to reconstruct cleft nasal deformities [9][10][11][12] . The absence of visible scars at the donor site has been cited with all approaches, especially when using a retroauricular approach 13 . Although the concha cartilage is widely used, complications at the donor site have not been extensively reported, particularly with