Objective: The traditional unilateral or bilateral buccogingival or bicoronal approach often seems to impose limitations on achieving complete resection and reconstruction of the extensive midfacial fibrous dysplasia. Therefore, we hypothesized that the midfacial degloving approach could be used for the correction of maxillary fibrous dysplasia, which has been primarily used for paranasal sinus lesions or nasopharyngeal tumor.
Methods: The study involved 5 maxillofacial fibrous dysplasia patients who underwent a midfacial degloving surgical procedure. There were 4 male patients and 1 female patient with a mean age of 16.8 years. The average, mean follow-up duration was 17.8 months. A wide, subperiosteal dissection was made along the anterior wall of the maxilla and pyriform aperture over the level of the infraorbital foramen. A bilateral, circumferential, nasal vestibular incision and dissection allowed for bilateral degloving of the middle third of the face over the infraorbital rim. Then total or subtotal resection, followed by reconstruction using an iliac bone graft, was performed.
Results: The midface, degloving approach provided visualization of the medial maxillary wall, the pterygoid junction, nasofrontal suture, infraorbital rim, and laterally to the temporal process of the zygoma. Subtotal or total resection of the lesions and reconstruction with bone grafts was possible in all 5 patients, and there were no complications. There was also no visible facial scarring and all patients expressed satisfaction with the cosmetic outcome.
Conclusions: The midfacial, degloving approach was found to be safe and effective for maxillofacial fibrous dysplasia, and nearly total resection was possible. This approach allows for a wider dissection and resection compared with the traditional buccogingival approaches, and there was no visible facial scarring.