Abstract
Autologous costal cartilage for rhinoplasty is an excellent graft material providing
both volume and quality of cartilage required for nasal reconstruction. Commonly,
the 5th, 6th, 7th, and 8th rib costal cartilages have been harvested but other ribs
such as the 10th rib are often overlooked and yet offer an excellent graft option
for columellar, alar rim, nasal tip, and dorsal augmentation grafts. The use of the
10th rib costal cartilage in patients with complex secondary cleft nasal deformity
has scant reference in the literature. We demonstrate our simple and quick 10th rib
cartilage harvesting technique and elicit its use in secondary rhinoplasty and cleft
lip nasal deformities. The advantages of harvesting the 10th rib cartilage and our
long-term results demonstrating ease of harvest, stability, and predicable outcomes
are with several clinical cases. The senior author has used the 10th rib graft successfully
in a variety of challenging secondary cleft rhinoplasty procedures with excellent
and consistent outcomes. We advocate the use of the 10th rib graft in such procedures
as it is easy to harvest, is a dynamic cartilage graft, and offers predictable results
with low levels of complications.
Keywords
10th rib cartilage graft - rhinoplasty - cartilage
