Facial soft tissue thickness measurement method and relationship with BMI, age and sex

Abstract

Introduction: Facial aesthetics results from the harmony of various components of the craniofacial region, a structure whose physiognomy and topography are determined by a set of hard and soft tissues. Few works in the literature have investigated the relationship between the variables of sex, age, BMI and soft tissue thickness and have considered how these variables may influence operative outcomes. The purpose of this study is to increase the pre-operative knowledge of the thickness of the soft tissues of the face through an analysis of their measurement conducted on cone beam computed tomography (CBCT) and to investigate the impact that the variables of gender, age and BMI have on their determination.

Materials and methods: For this study 82 patients were recruited between January 2020 and January 2021 in the Department of Maxillofacial Surgery of the University of Naples "Federico II". A descriptive analysis of the sample was carried out on the selected sample, calculating averages and standard deviations for the individual variables analyzed.

Results: BMI has a predominant role on some craniometric points while age and sex have a more marginal role. Our analysis shows that some points are affected by only one variable, BMI (G' N' PR' ID' SM' GN' PG' MIO' ACP' GO' ZY' SC' IC' ECMS' and MMB'); some points are affected by both BMI and gender (MP' and MR'); while only two (RHI' and MSO') are influenced by all the three variables.

Conclusion: A priori knowledge through CBCT of the thickness of the soft tissues of the face and a comparison with the data we propose could provide the surgeon with advance notice of the characteristics of the tissues which she/he will encounter.

Keywords: Age; BMI; Facial reconstruction; Facial soft tissue thickness; Facial surgery; Sex.