Sacramento, Calif. — A new calibration technique could help facial plastic surgeons use computer imaging software to achieve positive aesthetic results in their patients.
News source Science Daily reports that according to an article that appeared in the March/April issue of Archives of Facial Plastic Surgery, the technique involves measuring the distance between the upper ear and chin in computer-enhanced photographs. The technique was described in research conducted at the University of California, Davis, Medical Center.
The researchers performed a photograph analysis and medical record review of 14 patients who had undergone combined rhinoplasty and chin correction. Six of the patients received implants in their chins, while eight underwent osseous genioplasty involving surgery on the chin bone. Preoperative and postoperative photographs were analyzed and the distance from the top of the external ear canal to the pupil and to the most prominent point on the chin was measured. These measurements were used to develop a standard scale so that before-and-after photographs could be compared, even if they were not the same size.
Other established measures were also analyzed, notably cervicomental angle, mentocervical angle and facial convexity angle.
The researchers found that even when preoperative and postoperative photographs are of different sizes, relative distance comparisons are possible with the new calibration technique using the constant facial landmarks. Thus results can be significantly more positive in terms of accuracy of proportionality.
