title: A quantitative three-dimensional assessment of abnormal variations in facial soft tissues of adult patients with cleft lip and palate.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To supply quantitative information about the facial soft tissues of adult operated patients with cleft lip and palate (CLP).
  
  
  METHODS
  The three-dimensional coordinates of soft tissue facial landmarks were obtained using an electromagnetic digitizer in 18 Caucasian patients with CLP (11 males and 7 females aged 19 to 27 years) and 162 healthy controls (73 females and 89 males aged 18 to 30 years). From the landmarks, 15 facial dimensions and two angles were calculated. Data were compared with those collected in healthy individuals by computing z-scores. Two summary anthropometric measurements for quantifying craniofacial variations were assessed in both the patients and reference subjects: the mean z-score (an index of overall facial size), and its SD, called the craniofacial variability index (an index of facial harmony).
  
  
  RESULTS
  In treated patients with CLP, facial size was somewhat smaller than in normal individuals, but in all occasions the mean z-score fell inside the normal interval (mean +/- 2 SD). Almost all patients had a craniofacial variability index larger than the normal interval, indicating a global disharmonious appearance. Overall, in patients pronasale, subnasale, and pogonion were more posterior, the nose was shorter and larger, the face was narrower, and the soft tissue profile and upper lip were flatter than in the reference population.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The facial soft tissue structures of adult operated patients with CLP differed from those of normal controls of the same age, sex, and ethnic group. In this patient group, surgical corrections of CLP failed to provide a completely harmonious appearance, even if the deviations from the reference were limited. Further analyses of larger groups of patients are needed.
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Anatomia Umana, Facoltà di Medicina e Chirurgia and Facoltà di Scienze Motorie, Università degli Studi di Milano, Milan, Italy. farc@unimi.it
authors.forename: Virgilio F
authors.initials: VF
authors.lastname: Ferrario
authors.forename: Chiarella
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Sforza
authors.forename: Claudia
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Dellavia
authors.forename: Gianluca M
authors.initials: GM
authors.lastname: Tartaglia
authors.forename: Davide
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Sozzi
authors.forename: Armando
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Carù
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D002508:Cephalometry / Q000379:methods*; D002971:Cleft Lip / Q000145:classification* / Q000601:surgery; D002972:Cleft Palate / Q000145:classification* / Q000601:surgery; D004954:Esthetics; D005145:Face / Q000033:anatomy & histology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; D021621:Imaging, Three-Dimensional / Q000379:methods; D008297:Male; D008953:Models, Anatomic; D010780:Photogrammetry / Q000379:methods*