Achieving a Youthful Midface: Examination of Midface Anatomy Improvement Following Lower Blepharoplasty With Fat Transposition and Transtemporal Midface Lift With Lower Lid Skin Pinch.

[BACKGROUND] Numerous methods have been described to treat midfacial aging. The authors compared 2 surgical methods aimed to improve the appearance of midface aging via their ability to improve midface contour: the transtemporal midface lift (with lower lid skin pinch) and lower blepharoplasty with fat transposition.

[OBJECTIVES] The authors conducted a retrospective cohort study of all patients who underwent transtemporal midface lift and lower blepharoplasty with fat transposition performed by the senior author (V.Q.) from January 2014 to December 2015. Preoperative and 6-month postoperative profile photos were objectively examined for both surgical groups and compared. A total of 16 patients underwent lower blepharoplasty with fat transposition and 15 patients underwent trans temporal midface lift.

[METHODS] For comparison 1, the authors compared the angle at the orbital rim within each surgical group before and after surgery. For comparison 2, the degree of improvement in the midfacial contour was quantitatively compared between the 2 surgical groups.

[RESULTS] This study demonstrated that both procedures achieved a statistically significant improvement in the midfacial contour. There was no statistically significant difference between groups in severity of deformity preoperatively (mean preoperative orbital rim angle 131.5° for lower blepharoplasty group and 132.2° for transtemporal midface lift group, P = 0.90). Degree of improvement between the groups also did not significantly differ (P = 0.28).

[CONCLUSIONS] Both approaches (transtemporal midface lift and lower blepharoplasty with fat transposition) can successfully improve the lower lid midface contour, as the authors demonstrated statistically significant improvement at 6 months postoperatively.