Prospective Evaluation of Perioperative Steroid Dosing on Postsurgical Edema in Orthognathic Surgery

Orthognathic surgery is a commonly performed surgery to correct facial functional and esthetic deformities. At the Atlantic Centre of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery in Halifax, Nova Scotia, over 300 of these surgeries are carried out yearly. Orthognathic surgery is comprised of procedures performed in both the maxilla and mandible which include Lefort 1, bilateral sagittal split and functional (BSSO) and functional genioplasty. Common sequelae after orthognathic surgery include post-operative pain and swelling.

Swelling occurs almost universally to some degree after orthognathic surgery. Steroid therapy has long been advocated for the reduction of post-operative swelling in oro-facial surgeries, as there is good evidence to support its use for this purpose. In 1978, Habal showed that one gram of methylprednisolone administered in a controlled dog model reduced post-operative swelling. He later carried this over to his practice of cosmetic facial surgeries. His studies have laid the much of the ground work for the use of steroid therapy in head and neck surgeries today.

Other studied benefits of steroid use in facial surgery include decreased post-operative pain, trismus, nausea and vomiting as well as decreased length of hospital stays. Complications of steroid use include compromised healing or infection, sleep disturbances, hyperglycemia, avascular necrosis of bone, steroid-related acne and adverse psychiatric effects.

The use of perioperative steroids as a means of swelling control is the current standard of care in the practice of orthognathic surgery. Despite this fact, there is little consensus on the ideal steroid regimen (i.e. type and dosing) to use for surgery. As such, the use of steroids in Oral and Maxillofacial surgical practices are based primarily on surgeon's preference and familiarity with a particular steroid regimen. This is likely due to the weak evidence in published literature in favor of a steroid regimen to mitigate post-operative swelling.

Most literature in favor of particular steroid regimens involves crude or arbitrary measurements of swelling. In 1978, Habal showed that one gram of methylprednisolone administered in a controlled dog model reduced post-operative swelling. This observation was made by a trained observer against a control group who received no steroid. Other studies have had trained observers look at post-operative photographs of patients who had undergone orthognathic surgery to stratify which had "more" or "less" swelling. Another study attempted to quantify the degree of post-operative swelling by measuring the distance between the earlobes under the chin. These authors acknowledged that this could be altered by the facial movements produced during orthognathic surgery and that better means of measurement of facial swelling should be employed in future research.