Facial soft tissue profile after Orthognatic Surgery at a Referral Hospital in Tehran, Iran

Introduction: Recently, orthognathic surgery is widely used in reconstruction and aesthetics over the world and has found its place in plastic surgery, especially in moderate to severe skeletal deformities. The relationship between facial hard and soft tissues consequently has been raised in planning the surgery and assessment of postoperative changes. Photogrammetry is the reasonable and simple technique to assess the surgeries in this regard which was applied through the current research to evaluate pre- and postoperative facial parameters. Methods: Between 2012 and 2014, 29 patients including 13 females and 16 males enrolled the study. The mean±SD of age was 27.3±4.65 years in men and 25.71±2.41 years in women. Patients who referred to a hospital in Tehran, Iran, were reviewed using their charts and enrolled the study regarding inclusion and exclusion criteria before being invited to get postoperative 6-24 months after their surgery for photogrammetry in this cross-sectional performance. Results: 29 patients including 13 females and 16 males enrolled the study. The mean±SD of age was 27.3±4.65 years in men and 25.71±2.41 years in women. The facial convexity and the total facial contour had the most changes after the cervicomental and mentolabial angles which was about 5 degrees. In terms of longitudinal parameters, the bigonial breadth showed the most changes followed by the lower lip height and the central lower lip height. The surgery was effective to change physiognomic and morphologic face parameters with much more changes in women (P<0.001). Conclusion: It seems that orthognatic surgery, disregarding the standards of the face, and the criteria of beauty between men and women in different races, help people to have better face besides malocclusion correction. The present study showed that the facial parameters changed towards more normal measures following the surgeries done in the surveyed referral center in Iran.