Abstract

Background: Reduction malarplasty is one of the most popular facial contouring surgeries in east Asia for making patients’ faces smaller. Currently in Korea, reduction malarplasty surgeries are performed mostly at plastic surgery clinics, but few cases are done at oral and maxillofacial surgery clinics. The reason might be because of post-operative complications after reduction malarplasty, such as undercorrection, overcorrection, asymmetry, cheek drooping, malunion, pain and noise. Those complications should be uneasy to be handled by oral and maxillofacial surgeons, however, they can be prevented by knowing the effective and safe reduction malarplasty techniques. Therefore, in this article the author as an oral and maxillofacial surgeon, would like to suggest safe and effective surgical methods for reduction malarplasty customized for Korean patients. Method: L- shape osteotomy of zygomatic body was performed with intraoral approach via vestibular incision, and the zygomatic arch was osteotomized with extraoral approach via sideburn incision. Then zygomatic complex was separated and rotated mesio-superiorly without removal of a bony strip and fixed with miniplates and microplates without making a bony gap. Conclusion: Surgical results were favorable and satisfied by the patients without cheek drooping, malunion, undercorrection and asymmetry.