Kiel, Germany — Tear trough deformity may require surgical aesthetic treatment while the glabellar fold may be a simpler area to correct, according to researchers who assessed subcutaneous fat compartments to determine adequate treatment modalities.

Investigators from University of Kiel examined nine non-fixed male and female cadaver heads ranging in age from 72 to 89. They performed computed tomographic scans after injecting a radiographic contrast medium directly into the fat compartments surrounding prominent facial folds. Researchers then analyzed data through multiplanar image reconstruction.

Different arrangement patterns of the fat compartments were found around the facial rhytids.

“The nasolabial fold, the tear trough and the labiomandibular fold represent an anatomical border between adjacent fat compartments,” the authors wrote. “By contrast, the glabellar fold and the labiomental sulcus have no direct relation to the boundaries of facial fat. Deep fat, underlying a facial rhytid, was identified underneath the nasolabial crease and the labiomental sulcus.”

The study authors concluded that compartment-specific volume augmentation of the nasolabial fold, the tear trough and the labiomandibular fold is limited by existing boundaries that extend into the skin. Deep fat in the area of the nasolabial fold and the mentolabial sulcus, however, may be used for augmentation and subsequent elevation of the folds.

The study was published in the October issue of the International Journal of Surgical Reconstruction.

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