[Mid-face distraction after LeFort III osteotomy in craniofacial dysmorphism].

BACKGROUND

The success of LeFort III-osteotomy with concurrent advancement of the midface in cases of severe, midfacial hypoplasia is limited by the soft covering tissue of the facial skeleton. There appear to be significant advantages in using distraction osteogenesis of the midface after surgery.

CASE REPORT: We discuss the use of an extraoral distraction device after the osteotomy of a 10-year-old girl with Crouzon's disease. and the use of an internal device for a 6-year-old boy with severe midface hypoplasia following Apert's syndrome.

RESULTS

In both patients a significant improvement of function, as well as harmonisation of the facial proportions, could be observed and the preoperatively planned distances of midface advancement of 18 and 15 mm respectively could be achieved.

DISCUSSION: Distraction osteogenesis is an established procedure for the treatment of mandibular hypoplasia but few reports dealing with complex midface distraction are available outside of the specialist English language literature. We report on both external and internal distraction techniques with which good functional and aesthetic results were achieved.