The authors recommend, when necessary, the use of external excisions for correcting variations in the shape of the nostrils and alae in the cleft lip—nose deformity, in primary rhinoplasties, and in secondary rhinoplasties. Their experience in the use of external incisions was originally stimulated by Millard's paper of 1960 which recommended different types of remodeling external excisions in his analysis of how to handle variations in the shape of the nostrils and alae.