Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jul 19, 2026
Midface Hypoplasia and Cranial Base Morphology in Syndromic Craniosynostosis: A Comparative Analysis Study Using a Predictive Regression Model
Published on: November 4, 2025
Measuring adult facial morphology in three dimensions
Chung How Kau1, Stephen Richmond, Cecilia Savio
1Wales College of Medicine, Biology, Health and Life Sciences, Dental Health and Biological Sciences, Wales, UK. kauc@cardiff.ac.uk
Objectives:
The aim of this study is to evaluate the reliability of measuring three-dimensional soft tissue morphology using a laser imaging system.
Design:
Prospective clinical trial.
Materials And Methods:
Thirty-eight adult subjects, mean age 24.5 years, were analyzed for soft tissue changes at baseline (T1) and at 1 week (T2) using two commercially available Minolta Vivid 900 (Osaka, Japan) laser scanning devices assembled as a stereopair. Left and right images were merged to form the whole face, and these images were superimposed to assess the errors between the two faces at T1 and at T2.
Results:
The results showed that the mean shell deviations for left and right scans at T1 were 0.32 +/- 0.08 mm and 0.30 +/- 0.09 mm for males and females, respectively. The mean shell deviations for left and right scans at T2 were 0.34 +/- 0.08 mm and 0.32 +/- 0.09 mm for males and females, respectively. The mean difference of the merged composite faces superimposed at T1 and T2 was 0.37 +/- 0.07 mm and 0.35 +/- 0.09 mm for males and females, respectively. Paired t-tests revealed that the mean difference of 0.02 mm was statistically insignificant (P > .05). The reproducibility error was 0.7 and 0.8 mm for females and males, respectively, when a tolerance of 90% was imposed on the aligned faces.
Conclusions:
Capturing soft tissue morphology of the face, using the technique described, is clinically reproducible within 1 week of the initial records.
