Early frontofacial symmetry after correction of unilateral coronal synostosis: frontoorbital advancement vs endoscopic strip craniectomy and helmet therapy.

Frontoorbital advancement (FOA) improves forehead and superior orbital asymmetry associated with unilateral coronal synostosis but has little effect on facial asymmetry. This study compares frontofacial symmetry after FOA and endoscopically assisted suturectomy (ESC) and postoperative helmet therapy.A retrospective review of 2 cohorts of patients with nonsyndromic unilateral coronal synostosis who had either FOA or ESC was undertaken. Choice of procedure was determined by age of patient at referral (younger than 4 months, FOA or ESC; older than 4 months, only FOA). Vectra 3D imaging system (Canfield Imaging Systems, Fairfield, NJ) was used to capture and analyze three-dimensional digital images. Comparative anthropometric measurements were made and statistically analyzed.Twenty-two patients met the inclusion criteria; 11 underwent ESC at mean age of 2 months (range, 1-4 months) and 11 underwent FOA at mean age of 12 months (range, 8-25 months). Mean age at three-dimensional digital imaging was 45.9 months (range, 18-64 months) for the FOA group and 34.5 months (range, 20-66 months) for the ESC group (P = 0.054).There was no difference between the 2 groups with regard to supraorbital symmetry (P = 0.54). The ESC group exhibited better facial symmetry in midline deviation (3.6° vs 1.4°; P = 0.018), nasal tip deviation (5.6° vs 2.3°; P = 0.006), and middle facial depth (6.9 vs 4.4 mm; P = 0.042). Lower facial depth was similar (3.8 vs 2.3 mm; P = 0.54).Early ESC and helmet therapy results in comparable brow symmetry and better overall facial symmetry than FOA done in late infancy.