Reconstruction of the nasal alar using a trilobed flap

The nose exists in the center of the face and the external nose plays an important role in the feature of the face. Many kinds of skin tumor often grow there. Because of the unique features of the skin covering the nose, it is important that defects are reconstructed with good color match and texture match. For reconstruction of the alar, it is more complicated to resemble its contour. We have reconstructed large defects of the nasal alar using a trilobed flap from the cheek on the same side of the defect. The cheek provides good color and texture matches and has an area of relative redundancy that simplifies transfer of a large thin flap. A trilobed flap can cover a full-thickness defect of the alar by folding the thin tip of the first lobe. Design of the flap can easily match wrinkle lines of the face to avoid conspicuous scars. But it is difficult to reconstruct the alar groove by this method without additional procedures. In addition, defects crossing over the center line of the face are not suitable for this method.