Limited evidence for the effect of presurgical nasoalveolar molding in unilateral cleft on nasal symmetry: a call for unified research.

Background: In the past two decades, presurgical nasoalveolar molding has been applied increasingly in the care of patients with a cleft to improve nasal symmetry and facilitate closure of the lip and secondary rhinoplasty. Many cleft centers do not apply presurgical molding, because its effect is disputed. This review aims to quantify the effect of nasal symmetry in the long term.

Nasal growth and maturation age in adolescents: a systematic review.

Objective: To define the end of the nasofacial growth spurt in order to schedule rhinoseptoplasty in patients with cleft without disturbing nasofacial growth.

Data Sources: We searched the PubMed and Cochrane bibliographic databases from inception through December 31, 2007, using the primary indexing term facial growth with the confining search terms growth AND (face OR nose) AND (cephalometry OR anthropometry). The reference lists of the retrieved articles were searched for missed relevant studies.