Our Experience with Nasolabial Flaps in Soft Tissue Reconstruction of Oral Malignancy; Feasible Option in Rural Set Up

In this era of microvascular expertise, free flaps are the preferred option by reconstructive surgeons but has technical limitation in rural set up. Nasolabial flaps has been widely mentioned in literature for smaller defect reconstruction with minimal morbidity. It is a robust flap for soft tissue reconstruction in early stage lesion of oral cavity. We present a series of single stage oral cavity reconstruction using inferiorly based islanded nasolabial flaps in small to moderate soft tissue defects. This is a retrospective study which included biopsy proven 10 patients diagnosed with early stage oral cavity malignancy. All the patients underwent single stage islanded nasolabial flap for small to moderate oral defects. Follow up of all patients were recorded with respect to clinical photographs, mouth opening, tongue mobility, deglutition, speech and patient satisfaction. All operated patients had good functional outcome in terms of swallowing, speech and tongue mobility. All patients were satisfactory with the postoperative results. In early stage oral malignancy patients, this option justifies a reliable and cost effective approach. Inferiorly based islanded nasolabial flaps provides a single stage, safer, faster and reliable option for small to moderate oral cavity defects.