Nasal Septal Agenesis and Attenuated Lower and Upper Lateral Cartilages in a 5-Year-Old Child: A Sporadic Finding

Introduction: Cartilaginous nasal septal agenesis is a rare finding. In fact, just one case has been reported to have congenital agenesis of all nasal cartilages in a 6-year-old child by Bakhshaee et al. The literature review shows another case that was reported by Ozek et al in Turkey, where they reported a case of total nasal agenesis that was associated with Tessier no. 30. We could not find a similar case in the literature where only agenesis of the nasal cartilaginous septum was present. Methods/Case Report: This is a case report of a 5-year-old child presenting to our clinic with agenesis of his nasal septum and attenuation of the upper and lower lateral cartilages. His parents were seeking a corrective procedure to improve the shape of his nose. He was a male child with a right unilateral cleft lip and palate that were corrected surgically in 2009 (lip repair) and 2010 (palate repair), respectively. Results: On postoperative week 3, the patient's mother brought him to the emergency department with a history of falling on his face while playing at home. Examination revealed swelling of the nose but no breathing difficulties. He still had an acceptable augmented nose but with sings of deviation and collapse. Discussion: We report this case to find an answer to how such cases can be approached in the future in terms of the surgical intervention required and to study the options of redoing such cases.