The extracorporeal septum plasty: a technique to correct difficult nasal deformities.

The severely deformed septum remains a problem. We recommend removing the whole septum and reconstructing a new, straight, septum plane that will be replanted (i.e., extracorporeal correction). Until April 1993 we had used this technique in 1012 patients with functionally as well as aesthetically encouraging results. All septal replants healed primarily. A problem may occur with this technique in reconstructing the dorsum and in stabilizing the replant. The exact technique is explained in detail, and the results are compared with those reported in the literature. Even with this radical procedure, the rate of complication was only 2.2 percent. Biopsies provided the histologic proof of cartilage survival.