Full thickness facial burns: Outcomes following orofacial rehabilitation

To document orofacial rehabilitation and outcomes after full thickness orofacial burn.

Participants included 12 consecutive patients presenting with full thickness orofacial burns. A group of 120 age-matched healthy participants was recruited for normative comparison. Non-surgical exercise was initiated within 48 h of admission and continued until wounds had healed, circumoral scar tissue had stabilised and functional goals were achieved to the best of the patient's ability. Outcomes were documented using vertical and horizontal mouth opening measures at start and end of treatment and therapy duration was recorded.

At commencement of treatment, participants had significantly (p<0.001) reduced vertical and horizontal mouth opening range compared to controls. Average duration of orofacial contracture management was 550 days, with half requiring >2 years rehabilitation. By end of treatment, significant (p<0.01) positive improvement in vertical and horizontal mouth opening had been achieved, however measures had returned to lower limits of normal function and remained significantly (p<0.05) reduced compared to the control group.

This study demonstrates that although positive gains can be achieved through non-surgical exercise after full thickness burn, the duration of rehabilitation is considerable and some degree of long term loss in functional mouth opening remains.