PREVENTION AND CORRECTION OF CICATRICIAL INTRANASAL ADHESIONS IN RHINOPLASTIC SURGERY

THE NASAL VESTIBULE

PRACTICALLY all rhinoplastic maneuvers are performed through the intranasal route by incisions made in the nasal vestibule. The latter forms a dilatation inside the aperture of the nostril. It is bound laterally by the ala and the lateral crus of the alar cartilage and medially by the columella and the membranous septum. The vestibule extends from the nares to the intercartilaginous fold, which separates the alar and lateral cartilages. In a frontal section each vestibule has the approximate shape of a right-angle triangle, with the lateral wall of the nostril forming the hypotenuse. The concavity of the lateral crus and its junction with the medial crus form the high vault of the vestibule. This vault makes the diameter of the vestibule larger than the diameter of the nostril. The lining of the vestibule consists of a thin layer of the skin intimately adherent to the underlying cartilage.