Total and Subtotal Restoration of the Nose

To be acceptable, a surgically reconstructed nose must be covered with smooth skin, have a normal contour, have an epithelial lining, and provide an adequate airway. Though not always necessary, a rigid support of bone or cartilage will usually add to the quality of the result (Figs. 1 and 2). It is very desirable that the size and form of the new nose be in harmony with the particular face. Nasal reconstruction amounts to sculpturing with the live tissues for material, and this must be done in conformity with good surgical usage, combined with mechanical accuracy and some artistic feeling (Fig. 3). Phidias seems to have been unique among sculptors in his ability to make a free hand carving of his ideal without previously working it out in some plastic material, and there are probably few surgeons of sufficient skill to emulate Phidias' example. Even a tailor will make a pattern