Advanced Facial Rejuvenation After Bimaxillary Surgery in Three Different Facial Types

Facial aging is the consequence of many mechanisms involving the bones and the "soft tissue" (skin, fat, ligaments, muscles, and periosteum) of the face such as downward migration of the soft tissue, adipose and muscular tissue atrophy, and skeletal resorption. The potential of orthognathic surgery (double jaw surgical advancement) of expanding the skeletal foundation to increase the facial drape support is now recognized and widely popularized by several authors. The aim of this study was to analyze the rejuvenation change of the face after bimaxillary advancement for orthognathic surgery, focusing on the previously mentioned stigmata of the middle and the lower third of the aging face.

A retrospective monocentric chart review was conducted for all patients affected by aging signs of the face who underwent orthognathic surgery between January 2015 and December 2019 at the Face Surgery Center (Parma, Italy). During the postoperative follow-up examination, all patients underwent anthropometric photographs and esthetic assessment to evaluate facial rejuvenation after double jaw surgical advancement.

After application of the exclusion criteria, the final study sample included 85 patients (53 females, 32 males). Eighty-three patients (97%) showed a degree of rejuvenation after maxillo-mandibular advancement (MMA); the score of the postoperative face was less than the score of the preoperative face. Two patients reported no significant postoperative change; none reported a more aging face, with a successful "reverse face-lift" occurred in 97% of our cases.

"Reverse face-lift" by bimaxillary advancement is a surgical procedure which is indicated for a selected group of middle-aged patients with a diagnosis of bimaxillary skeletal retrusion or posterior divergence very motivated to an extreme rejuvenation; this procedure provides support for the facial mask resulting in whole facial rejuvenation.