Midfacial advancement by bone distraction for treatment of craniofacial deformities.

Craniofaciostenosis is often associated with midfacial hypoplasia and has been treated traditionally using Le Fort advancement osteotomies and bone grafts. The surgical procedure requires a prolonged operating time, several osteotomies with a significant blood loss, and wide surgical exposure. According to the principles of bone lengthening, we performed midfacial advancement by bone distraction in 4 patients with midfacial hypoplasia to reduce the operative time and complication rate. In 2 patients with Crouzon's syndrome we performed a Le Fort III osteotomy and placed the distraction device behind the malar eminence and screwed it on the temporal bone bilaterally. In the other 2 children, with Apert's syndrome, we performed frontal advancement and remodeling before placing the device during the same surgery behind the malar bone without any midfacial osteotomy. It appears to us that patients with more severe deformities will need surgical procedures to offer more satisfactory results. In these patients, distraction is an initial therapy to reduce the severity of the deformity, making it possible to effect a better treatment afterward.