Long-term hard and soft tissue response following isolated genioplasty: a systematic review

Genioplasty facilitates alteration of the chin position and contour which contributes to aesthetics and function. The response of the hard and soft tissues following genioplasty has not been assessed after a year or more of the surgery being performed. Hence, the aim of this systematic review was to assess the response of the hard and soft tissues occurring at least 1 year after the procedure.

A literature search was conducted in the following electronic databases: PubMed, Ovid, LILACS, and Cochrane Library. Potential articles were identified wherein only studies with genioplasty performed as an isolated procedure and with data at least 12 months after the procedure were included.

Five studies were included in this systematic review. Two of the articles included were considered to be of good quality while three were considered to be of moderate quality using a modified Downs and Black tool. The ROBINS-I tool showed a moderate risk of bias for most domains. The study characteristics revealed varying degrees of relapse for the hard and soft tissues.

In the anteroposterior plane, the soft tissue relapsed more than the hard tissues 3 years post genioplasty. However, relapse in the vertical plane showed a wide variation for both the hard and soft tissues. In the anteroposterior plane, the hard tissue to soft tissue response 2 years or more following genioplasty ranged from 1:0.77 to 1:0.91 while in the vertical plane the hard tissue to soft tissue response ranged from 1:0.67 to 1:1.16.