An Efficient Template Design Technique for Nasal Reconstruction

Introduction: Nasal reconstruction presents a formidable challenge to the surgeon. The unique 3D shape of the nose makes recreating the nasal pyramid a daunting task. Complicating the anatomy is the unpredictable nature of postoperative wound healing. Thus, accurate planning is essential to optimizing reconstructive outcomes. Existing techniques include using foil paper from suture packages to create a model of the defect on which to base the local or interpolated flap.1–3 However, these methods are limited in that they only create a 2D model of the defect and do not account for the 3D structure of the nose. Other methods of creating 3D nasal templates can be time-consuming, expensive, or require the use of custom imaging software.4–7 We present a technique that addresses these issues and accurately creates a 3D template of the nose.