A preliminary study on the hard-soft tissue relationships among unoperated secondary unilateral cleft nose deformities

Objective. The aim of this study was to explore the bone-soft tissue relationships around the nasolabial area in uncorrected secondary unilateral cleft nose deformities. Study Design. Measurements taken from photographs and cone-beam computerized tomography (CBCT) results were derived and paired up to represent the deformity features of bone and soft tissue, respectively. Results. All soft tissue measurements were significantly smaller than the corresponding bone measurements. Various bone-soft tissue correlation patterns were observed in different measurement pairs. Conclusions. The adopted photography-CBCT combined measurement method appeared to be reliable in evaluating the hard-soft tissue relationships in the nasolabial area. In unoperated unilateral cleft nose deformities, bony deformities would decide the soft tissue contours, and soft tissue in turn could camouflage the underlying bone deformities in various patterns and scale, making the external configuration less deformed than its bone basis. (Oral Surg Oral Med Oral Pathol Oral Radiol 2012;113:300-307)