Abstract
The height and breadth of the inferior nasal meatus were evaluated using Polytomographic frontal sections at 1, 3, 4 and 5cm from the nasion. Eighty-five normal adults, 45 males and 40 females and those who underwent the Caldwell-Luc operation, composed of 60 males and 15 females were included. Common to both males and females, the breadth showed a statistically significant increase at 3 and 4cm sections. The increase amounts to 20 to 30% of the breadth seen in normal adults. The height did not show any significant change. The height in males showed a slight decrease and was slightly increased in females; the change amounts to only 5 to 6% of the height of normal adults.
Our previous report confirmed that the orbital floor of postoperative patients was located lower in comparison with those who did not receive an operation. The lowering of the orbital floor and the lateral transposition of the lateral wall of the inferior nasal meatus result in the decreased diameter of pars membranacea (or the communication to the middle meatus). The postoperative course of maxillary sinusitis is adversely affected by this decrease in diameter. In view of the present report, routine making of a nasoantral window at the inferior nasal meatus is discouraged.
