Minor malformation of skin and soft tissue of the columella and philtrum.

Abstract

We present 3 patients with minor malformation of skin and soft tissue between the unilateral columella and philtrum. The first patient has a number of malformations such as minor cleft nose, notch of the left nostril rim and vermilion, and bifid frenula of the upper lip and right accessory ear, whereas the second patient had a notch of the vermilion and the third patient had minor ocular hypertelorism. The clinical findings observed in these patients suggest that a minor malformation of skin and soft tissue between the unilateral columella and philtrum is a focal fetal dysplasia that developed as a result of embryological failure in the ipsilateral medial nasal process and that these minor malformations are a type of facial cleft.