Skin Graft Reconstruction of Nasal Defect

Facial and Nose Reconstruction With a Full Thickness Skin Graft, Skin Cancer, Kevin Kavanagh

Full thickness Skin Graft for Nose Reconstruction
in a Patient With Skin Cancer

A full thickness skin graft can be used to close small superficial nasal defect. If the defect is through and through into the nasal cavity a skin flap must be used. If the underlying cartilage or bone has been resected a skin flap should be stronlgy considered. A graft must also be small. In the case shown below, the defect was only 1 cm but the graft was almost losted. However the end result was much better than could be obtained using a nasal-labial flap.

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This patient has a small basal cell carcinoma of the nose.			The defect after Mohs Surgery.

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A full thickness skin graft is harvested and sewn in place. The size of the graft is 1 cm.			A bolster is placed over the graft and left in place for one week.

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After a week, the bolster is taken off.			Over the next few days the entire graft turned dark and the superficial skin sloughed. The one month result is shown to the right. Notice that the graft still has an area which has not healed..

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The 2 month result is shown in this picture. Notice there is slight notching of the ala. The result although not perfect is better that that which is obtained using a nasal-labial flap.			The 8 month result is shown in this picture. Notice there is slight notching of the ala. The result although not perfect is better that that which is obtained using a nasal-labial flap.

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