Digital surface photogrammetry for anthropometric analysis of the cleft infant face.
OBJECTIVE
To analyze the three-dimensional morphology of the cleft infant face with digital surface photogrammetry.


METHODS
Fifty plaster casts of unoperated infants with cleft lip and palate were imaged three-dimensionally with digital surface photogrammetry. Twenty-one standard craniofacial measurements were taken. The plaster casts were divided into 4 groups with unilateral, bilateral, complete, and incomplete clefts of the lip and palate. The measurements were compared with standard values for healthy infants.


RESULTS
Significant differences (p < .0025) were found for the alar base width (33% to 55%), the alar base root width (59% to 103%), the width of the nose (7% to 25%), the length of the alar wing (18% to 25%), and the intercanthal (6% to 17%) and biocular (4% to 12%) width, depending on the cleft type. The vertical dimensions of the nose and the upper lip did not differ significantly from the controls.


CONCLUSIONS
This study describes preliminary data on the cleft infant facial deformity. The obtained results were mainly in agreement with data in the limited literature. Three-dimensional photogrammetry has proven to be reliable and can be applied more readily to potentially uncooperative patients.
Krimmel
Michael
M
Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, University Hospital Tübingen, Germany. Michael.Krimmel@med.uni-tuebingen.de
Kluba
Susanne
S
Bacher
Margit
M
Dietz
Klaus
K
Reinert
Siegmar
S