The Facial Profile

Stefan Zachow, PhD

Werner J. Heppt, MD

Facial appearance in our societies is often associated with notions of attractiveness, juvenileness, beauty, success, and so forth. Hence, the role of facial plastic surgery is highly interrelated to a patient's desire to feature many of these positively connoted attributes, which of course, are subject of different cultural perceptions or social trends. To judge about somebody's facial appearance, appropriate quantitative measures as well as methods to obtain and compare individual facial features are required.

This special issue on facial profile is intended to provide an overview on how facial characteristics are surgically managed in an interdisciplinary way based on experience, instrumentation, and modern technology to obtain an aesthetic facial appearance with harmonious facial proportions.

The facial profile will be discussed within the context of facial aesthetics. Latest concepts for capturing facial morphology in high speed and impressive detail are presented for quantitative analysis of even subtle changes, aging effects, or facial expressions. In addition, the perception of facial profiles is evaluated based on eye tracking technology.

Since in facial plastic surgery aesthetic changes of the face need to be contemplated and communicated to the patient, advanced planning tools and concepts, as well as surgical devices and instruments, to transfer such planned procedures into reality are presented. Expert surgeons and orthodontists present their results demonstrating effects on the facial profile. The topic will be followed up in the next issues by special articles about prominent eyes, auricular deformities, and the nasal profile.

We would like to thank all the authors for their contributions as well as Thieme Medical Publishers and the editorial service team for their professional support and we hope you will enjoy reading this issue of Facial Plastic Surgery.