REPRODUCIBILITY OF AIMED-AT PROFILES

Would a surgeon always draw the same aimed-at profile when planning th e correction of a face with evidently malpositioned jaws? The same 10 profile lines were given to seven maxillofacial surgeons on two occasi ons at intervals of ii months. The differences in absolute and proport ional vertical measurements were compared, It is shown that the variat ions between first and second drawing were quite large for individual values, However, even the mean differences per measurement vary betwee n surgeons from 0 to 10%, The drawings for the whole group corresponde d reasonably well with the ratios given by Farkas and Munro (1987) but were rather divergent from the 'golden dimensions' proposed by Brons and Mulie (1993), Considering the sometimes significant differences, o ne is advised not to draw profiles 'off the cuff' but to use a constru ction sc-stem for planning osteotomies.