Repair of nasal septal perforations using local mucosal flaps and a composite cartilage graft.

The surgical closure of a nasal septal perforation is recognized as being particularly challenging. A series of 11 consecutive patients who underwent closure of a septal perforation using a mucosal flap/composite conchal cartilage graft technique are reviewed, and the surgical technique described. The size of the perforation repaired varied, with eight cases being 2 cm or more in diameter. There was no significant graft donor site morbidity and complete perforation closure was achieved in eight cases after a mean observation time of 19.8 months. These results suggest that this is a suitable technique for closing nasal septal perforation.