Surgery of the nasal columella in external valve collapse

The authors describe and discuss their experience with the collapse of the external nasal valve, focusing on the role that surgery of the columella plays in solving this problem. Thirty-seven cases were treated. In all but 1 there had been a previous septorhinoplasty. Seven patients had concomitant internal valve collapse. A modified alarplasty associated with columelloplasty was adopted in the cases with severe collapse. When the reduction of the nostril opening was mild to moderate, the surgical strategy varied depending on the width of the columella base: alarplasty in cases with a narrow to normal columella, and columelloplasty in the presence of a wide columella base. The authors' philosophy tends to minimize intervention on the nasal valve areas. Their results demonstrate that when the collapse and its functional effect are not too severe, a good result can be achieved by working only on the columella, especially if its base is significantly wide.