EVALUATION OF FACIAL PALSY BY MOIRE TOPOGRAPHY INDEX

We investigated the usefulness of moire topography for evaluating faci al nerve function in 51 patients with facial palsy and 10 normal volun teers. This method visualizes the shape of objects in three dimensions . We devised three moire indexes as a simple method of quantifying the severity of facial palsy: the nasolabial groove moire index, the oral angle moire index, and the inner canthus moire index. We compared the results obtained by the moire indexes with findings obtained using th e House-Brackmann grading system and found that they were highly corre lated. These three moire indexes included all the standard factors of the House-Brackmann grading system, allowing us to develop the total m oire index.