Craniofacial Dermoids

Thirty-two patients with nasal dermal sinuses and cysts were treated during the 10-year period from 1978 to 1987. These patients presented with midline cysts (N= 18) or sinus ostia (N= 14). Only 6 of the 32 patients manifested intracranial extension (19 percent). All the patients with intracranial extension exhibited an intracranial mass on preoperative CT scans. Ten patients with no CT evidence of intracranial mass were noted to have only a fibrous cord extending to the base of the foramen cecum. In 4 of these 10 patients, craniotomy confirmed that there was no intracranial extension of the dermoid. Four other patients presented with sinus ostia at the base of the columella. None of these 4 patients had intracranial extension. Clinical examination and preoperative CT scans provide most of the information needed to determine the nature, course, and extent of these lesions.