Three-dimensional analysis of facial morphology before and after orthognathic surgery

A method for three-dimensional analysis of the facial hard- and soft-tissue morphologies is described. The soft-tissue analysis consisted of calculating three-dimensional values of reference points on the face by perspective transformation of their values in two pairs of photographs, taken simultaneously, from the right and left sides of the face. The shape of the mandible was analyzed three-dimensionally by the simultaneously taken frontal and lateral cephalograms. The hard- and soft-tissue changes were analyzed with the method in 28 patients in whom mandibular prognathism had been corrected by orthognathic surgery. The magnitude of the surgically-produced soft tissue volumetric changes in the anterior mandibular region was proportional to the posterior movement of the mandible. Asymmetry of the face also improved in response to correction of lateral deviation of the mandible and a close correlation between the directional indices of asymmetry of the hard and soft tissues was observed. Thus, the method was found to be quite useful for the analysis of facial morphology in jaw deformity.