Trigonocephaly-associated hypotelorism: is treatment necessary?

Abstract

This study was designed to examine whether hypotelorism associated with trigonocephaly might be self-correcting. Only patients who required surgical treatment and had undergone preoperative and postoperative anthropometric measurements were included. In no case was any attempt made to correct the hypotelorism surgically. The study sample consisted of 16 patients, of whom 10 underwent preoperative and postoperative computed tomography in addition to anthropometric examinations. The results were compared with sex- and age-matched pooled normal standards, converted to standard Z scores, and analyzed by means of Student's t tests. Both intercanthal and interorbital widths increased significantly postoperatively, with improvements in delta Z scores of 0.445 (p < or = 0.01) and 0.638 (p < or = 0.05). These increases exceeded average growth increments by 1.6 mm for intercanthal width and 1.3 mm for interorbital width. Improvement in the intercanthal widths was significantly greater in the more severely affected children than in those whose conditions were less severe. A greater improvement in interorbital width also was noted in children treated at less than 6 months of age compared with those treated later. The younger the patient at surgery, the greater was the improvement, suggesting that early surgery may somehow release a constraint on interorbital growth.