Subcranial facial bipartition osteotomy with glabellar reverse V-shaped and temporal approaches instead of the...

Patients with Apert syndrome show hypertelorism and midfacial hypoplasia, and their features are significantly improved through facial bipartition surgery. In addition, because patients with Apert syndrome demonstrate cranial deformity as well as other deformities, they require multiple surgical interventions throughout their development. We present herein a girl with Apert syndrome for whom subcranial facial bipartition was performed. We could not use the coronal approach because she had a terribly cicatricial scalp and wide calvarial defects caused by previous cranial surgeries carried out at another institution. Therefore, we used the glabellar reverse V-shaped approach and temporal approaches in place of the standard approach. She enjoyed a complication-free intraoperative and postoperative course, and left the hospital on postoperative day 10. Her midfacial segment was repositioned 6 mm anteriorly and 12 mm inferiorly on the cephalometric measurement. Her interpupillary distance was altered from 83 mm preoperatively to 76 mm postoperatively. The reverse V-shaped glabellar approach permits more relaxation of the nasal skin and nasal augmentation that is more reliable, although an inconspicuous scar remains in the prominent area. The temporal approach is also useful, enabling easy zygomatic arch osteotomy and secure pterygo-maxillary separation for pterygo-maxillary separation through an oral approach, allowing chiseling toward the skull base.