Costochondral graft in growing patients with hemifacial microsomia case series: Long-term results compared with non-treated patients.

OBJECTIVE(S): The aim of this study was to evaluate the long-term effectiveness of costochondral graft in hemifacial microsomia (HFM) type III patients. SETTINGS AND SAMPLE POPULATION: A sample of 10 patients affected by HFM type III treated during growth in the same Centre with costochondral graft (CCG patients group) is compared with a control group (CG) sample of 10 non-treated patients affected by the same malformation in order to understand whether surgery during growth provides advantages in terms of bony and facial symmetry after an 8-year follow-up. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The growth of the CCG was assessed on panoramic X-rays. To assess facial symmetry, a photometric evaluation on the frontal view was carried out. RESULTS: In CCG patients group the graft grown in mean less than the healthy ramus, a good facial symmetry was achieved after surgery, but was lost in the majority of the cases at the most recent control. In CG, occlusal canting slightly increased and facial asymmetry was relatively stable during the years. CONCLUSION: In patients with a congenital deformity, restoring the height of the ramus leads to an immediate restitution of facial symmetry, but in the long term, there is a return to the asymmetrical pattern. In CG, the asymmetry is stable during years with no increase of the facial deformity.

Mixed facial reanimation technique to treat paralysis in medium-term cases.

Recent facial paralyses, in which fibrillations of the mimetic muscles are still detectable by electromyography (EMG), allow facial reanimation based on giving new neural stimuli to musculature. However, if more time has elapsed, mimetic muscles can undergo irreversible atrophy, and providing a new neural stimulus is simply not effective. In these cases function is provided by transferring free flaps into the face or transposing masticatory muscles to reinstitute major movements, such as eyelid closure and smiling. In a small number of cases, patients affected by paralysis are referred late - more than 18 months after onset. In these cases, reinnervating the musculature carries a high risk of failure because some or all of the mimetic muscles may atrophy irreversibly while axonal ingrowth is taking place. A mixed reanimation technique to address this involves a neurorrhaphy between the masseteric nerve and a facial nerve branch for the orbicularis oculi, to ensure a stronger innervation to that muscle, associated with the transposition of the temporalis muscle to the nasiolabial sulcus. This gives good symmetry in the rest of the midface, while smiling movement is achievable, but not guaranteed. This one-time facial reanimation is particularly indicated for those who refuse major free-flap surgery or when that may be risky, as in previously operated and irradiated fields. More extensive procedures based on utilizing a free flap to recover smiling, while adding a cross-face nerve graft to restore blinking, may be proposed for motivated patients. Between 2010 and 2015, five patients affected by complete unilateral facial palsy underwent this technique in the Maxillofacial Surgery Department, San Paolo Hospital (Milan, Italy). Symmetry of the middle-third of the face at rest and recovery of smiling was quite good. Complete voluntary eyelid closure was obtained in all cases. Combining temporalis flap rotation and a masseteric-to-orbicularis-oculi-facial-nerve branch neurorrhaphy seems to be a valid solution for those medium-term referred patients.

Surgical treatment of synkinesis between smiling and eyelid closure.

Synkinetic movements are common among patients with incomplete recovery from facial palsy, with reported rates ranging from 9.1% to almost 100%. The authors propose the separation of the neural stimulus of the orbicularis oculi from that of the zygomatic muscular complex to treat eyelid closure/smiling synkinesis. This technique, associated with an anastomosis between the masseteric nerve and a central branch of the facial nerve, as well as with the use of a cross-facial nerve graft, resolves most of the spasms of the midface musculature, leading to a more relaxed tone when the mimic muscle is at rest and enhancing muscle excursion during voluntary and spontaneous smiling. Between 2011 and 2016, 18 patients affected by segmental paresis of the middle of the face underwent surgical treatment at the Maxillofacial Surgery Department of the San Paolo Hospital (Milan, Italy). Of these patients, 72.22% of cases with hypertone obtained partial to complete relaxation. Synkinesis was completely resolved in 83.33% of cases, and a significant improvement in facial movement was achieved in all patients. Neurorrhaphy of the masseteric nerve and the central branch of the facial nerve appears to produce favorable results. These initial data should be confirmed by further studies.