Simplified Approach to Auricular Cartilage Grafts

Auricular cartilage grafts may be the most frequently used autologous graft material in facial plastic surgery. Common uses for auricular cartilage grafts include alar batten grafts to treat nasal sidewall collapse; dorsal onlay grafts to treat the over- resected nasal dorsum or the low radix or, when shaved thin, to camouflage dorsal irregularities in rhinoplasty surgery; nasal tip grafts in primary and secondary rhinoplasty; postauricular perichondrium grafts to overlay the nasal tip and dorsum in the thin-skinned rhinoplasty patient; nasal alar reconstruction after skin cancer resection; lower Hd space grafts to treat ectropian in the paralytic lower lid; and cartilage graft material to assist in repairing septal perforations.