Hemandibular hypoplasia successfully treated with functional appliances: is it truly hemifacial microsomia?

The literature contains a number of case reports on successful orthopedic treatment of hemifacial microsomia (HFM), with surprising changes in the morphology of the condyles. All of these reports regard patients who have substantially no soft tissue involvement but only severe mandibular ramus and condyle deformities. A number of cases with unexpectedly similar phenotypes diagnosed as HFM are described. The authors suggest that it is possible that all of these cases might be misdiagnosed traumatic injuries of the condyle, which present a normal functional matrix and, therefore, with growth and with the help of functional stimulation, tend to grow toward the original symmetry.