Abstract
Purpose: :
To describe a novel technique for facial reanimation in patients with long-standing facial nerve palsy via transcutaneous temporalis tendon transfer.
Methods: :
Retrospective case series of 10 patients that underwent transcutaneous temporalis tendon transfer for longstanding CN VII Palsy performed by a single surgeon from the Wilford Hall Medical Center Oculoplastics Service from November 2007 to October 2008. The main measured outcome was the surgical result based on comparison of pre/post op pictures.
Results: :
Ten patients (8F, 2M) average age 49 (37-74) underwent transcutaneous temporalis tendon transfer for either functional or esthetically disabling CN VII Palsy. Associated procedures performed in conjunction included Browlifting (8/10), Subperiosteal Midface Lifting (10/10), Gold Weight Placement (7/10) and Lower Eyelid Recession with Spacer Graft (8/10). All patients had successful facial reanimation and correction of their midface descent and nasolabial fold loss with continual results beyond the 6 month follow up. Complications included hypertrophy of nasolabial incision (2/10) and infection (1/10).
Conclusions: :
Transcutaneous temporalis tendon transfer is a surgical technique that can reanimate the face of patients with disabling facial nerve palsy, and used in combination with other static procedures that resuspend gravity affected tissues, can produce reliable and persistent results with minimal complications.
Keywords: clinical (human) or epidemiologic studies: systems/equipment/techniques • anatomy