Face Region Research Articles

In-vitro accuracy of the virtual patient model with maxillomandibular relationship at centric occlusion using 3D-printed customized transfer key

ObjectiveThis study aimed to create a 3D-printed customized transfer key and evaluate the accuracy of the virtual patient model with maxillomandibular relationship at centric occlusion using the transfer key.MethodsA 3D-printed transfer key was designed, combining facial and intraoral (IOS) scans. The design included components that recorded the 3D upper and lower arch at centric occlusion. The virtual patient model image was generated in-vitro using a phantom head with soft tissue simulation. Accuracy was assessed by superimposing the 3D scans with reference CBCT images and analyzing trueness and precision using root mean square (RMS) deviations.ResultsThe transfer key included an intra-oral part that acts as an anterior deprogrammer to record the relationship of two dental arches at centric occlusion (CO) and an extra-oral with a rotatable cross-shaped design with two arms for locating the facial midline and the two pupils connecting line. Superimposition demonstrated high trueness (RMS: 0.51 mm for the arch regions, 0.69 mm for the whole head region, 0.85 mm in the face region) and precision (RMS: 0.41 mm for the arch regions, 0.52 mm for the entire head, 0.63 mm in the face region) significantly (p < 0.05). Minimal deviations were observed in critical areas, including the tooth and lip position, indicating that the virtual patient model was closely aligned with the CBCT reference. The dental arches achieved the highest accuracy, while slight deviations were noted in the facial regions.ConclusionsThe 3D-printed customized transfer key effectively enhanced the virtual patient model’s accuracy, surpassing traditional trueness and precision methods. This novel approach offers a streamlined, patient-friendly solution for digital dental workflows.

AI- and Deep Learning-Powered Driver Drowsiness Detection Method Using Facial Analysis

The significant number of road traffic accidents caused by fatigued drivers presents substantial risks to the public’s overall safety. In recent years, there has been a notable convergence of intelligent cameras and artificial intelligence (AI), leading to significant advancements in identifying driver drowsiness. Advances in computer vision technology allow for the identification of driver drowsiness by monitoring facial expressions such as yawning, eye movements, and head movements. These physical indications, together with assessments of the driver’s physiological condition and behavior, aid in assessing fatigue and lowering the likelihood of drowsy driving-related incidents. This study presents an extensive variety of meticulously designed algorithms that were thoroughly analyzed to assess their effectiveness in detecting drowsiness. At the core of this attempt lay the essential concept of feature extraction, an efficient technique for isolating facial and ocular regions from a particular set of input images. Following this, various deep learning models, such as a traditional CNN, VGG16, and MobileNet, facilitated detecting drowsiness. Among these approaches, the MobileNet model was a valuable choice for drowsiness detection in drivers due to its real-time processing capability and suitability for deployment in resource-constrained environments, with the highest achieved accuracy of 92.75%.

Trueness and precision of facial scan and virtual patient representation workflow.

To investigate the feasibility and accuracy (trueness and precision) of facial scanning and virtual patient representation (VPR). One participant was recruited and informed consent was obtained. VPR was performed 30 times with a custom fabricated intraoral scan body (ISB). Thirteen adhesive markers were added to the face as an extraoral scan body (ESB). Two facial scans were obtained for each VPR using an infra-red laser accessory sensor (Structure sensor; Occipital Inc) mounted on a computer tablet (iPad Pro; Apple Inc), including one with seated ISB and one without ISB. Two maxillary intraoral scans were obtained using an intraoral scanner (Omnicam; Dentsply Sirona) with and without the ISB. All files were imported to a dental software program (exocad; exocad GmbH) and VPR was obtained by aligning the facial and IOS scans using the ISB and ESB as common elements for alignment. Five fiducial face landmarks, four intraoral dental landmarks, and six perioral landmarks were selected for measurements. A total of 32 linear measurements, including 14 face-face (for facial scan accuracy) and 18 face-dental (for VPR accuracy) representing total face, lower face, and perioral regions, were performed directly using a digital caliper (FINO Digital Caliper; FINO GmbH) and virtually on the VPR. Trueness was evaluated by mean absolute difference (MAD) between the virtual and direct measurements, and the standard deviation represented Precision. Statistical analyses were performed with a statistical software package (IBM SPSS Statistics v25; IBM Corp), with α = 0.05. Data were analyzed for normality with Shapiro-Wilk test, and 1-sample t- (or Wilcoxon signed rank test), technical error of measurement (TEM), and relative error magnitude (REM). The facial scan had 2.04, 1.66, 0.8 trueness, and 1.05, 0.92, 0.91 precision for total, lower face, and perioral regions. VPR had higher MAD (lower trueness) than facial scan, including 3.32, 2.40, 1.21 trueness and 2.2, 1.47, 1.2 precision for total, lower face, and perioral regions. Both TEM and REM were lowest for the perioral region and increased with increasing measurement distance. Error in face scanning increased with increased distance and intricate details. VPR accuracy was lower than face scan accuracy because of added errors in the alignment process. The investigated VPR workflow might be feasible for treatment planning and smile design. However, it would be unreliable for more demanding prostheses manufacturing purposes.

Optimization of Video Heart Rate Detection Based on Improved SSA Algorithm.

A solution to address the issues of environmental light interference in Remote Photoplethysmography (rPPG) methods is proposed in this paper. First, signals from the face's region of interest (ROI) and background noise signals are simultaneously collected, and the two signals are processed by a differential to obtain a more accurate rPPG signal. This method effectively suppresses background noise and enhances signal quality. Secondly, the singular spectrum analysis algorithm (SSA) is enhanced to further improve the accuracy of heart rate detection. The algorithm's parameters are adaptively optimized by integrating the spectral and periodic characteristics of the heart rate signal. Experimental results demonstrate that the method proposed in this paper effectively mitigates the effects of lighting changes on heart rate detection, thereby enhancing detection accuracy. Overall, the experiments indicate that the proposed method significantly improves the effectiveness and accuracy of heart rate detection, achieving a high level of consistency with existing contact-based detection methods.

The influence of acute alcohol intoxication and hair visibility on delayed face recall

ABSTRACT Many witnesses are intoxicated at crime scenes, yet little is known of their ability to accurately describe perpetrators to police. We therefore explored the impact of alcohol on delayed verbal face recall across two experiments. Participants were administered an alcoholic or non-alcoholic beverage prior to viewing either one or two unfamiliar female faces, which they described from memory the following day while in a sober state. Each to-be-remembered model had long hair worn either loose (i.e., visible), or tied behind the head (i.e., concealed). Testing the hypothesis that alcohol narrows the focus of attention to the external (hairstyle) region of faces, we expected intoxicated participants to have poorer memory of internal face features (eyes, nose, mouth) than sober controls for stimulus faces with visibly long hair. Results revealed poorer recall accuracy for internal face details following alcohol consumption (Exp. 2), but the effect was uninfluenced by hairstyle. Findings are therefore consistent with the more general view that alcohol is associated with a bias to the external (hairstyle) region of faces during face learning, irrespective of hair visibility.

Is More Always Better? - A Randomized Comparative Clinical Trial About the Impact of Polidyoxanone Threads Quantity for Facial Lifting

Abstract Background Minimally invasive aesthetic procedures, such as the use of polydioxanone (PDO) threads, are increasingly popular for facial rejuvenation. Objectives This study investigates the impact of the number of PDO threads on tissue displacement, volume changes, and patient satisfaction. Methods This randomized controlled trial involved 22 subjects seeking facial lifting using PDO threads. Participants were divided into two groups: G1 with 3 threads per hemiface and G2 with 6 threads per hemiface. 3D stereophotogrammetry was used to evaluate volumetric changes and tissue displacement at baseline, 20-, and 60-days post-treatment. Patient satisfaction was assessed using the Global Aesthetic Improvement Scale (GAIS). Results Significant volumetric changes were observed over time in both midface and lower face regions (p&amp;lt;0.05), but no significant intergroup differences were found (p&amp;gt;0.6). Tissue displacement showed statistical significance over time (p=0.039) but not between groups (p=0.821). GAIS scores did not differ significantly between groups or between patients and specialists. Adverse events were minor and transient, primarily involving pain. Conclusions The number of PDO threads used did not significantly influence sustained lifting outcomes or patient satisfaction. Initial improvements in volume and tissue displacement diminished by 60 days, suggesting that additional threads do not enhance long-term efficacy. Further studies with longer follow-up are needed to better understand collagen stimulation's potential role in lasting effects.

Lip-Reading Classification of Turkish Digits Using Ensemble Learning Architecture Based on 3DCNN

Understanding others correctly is of great importance for maintaining effective communication. Factors such as hearing difficulties or environmental noise can disrupt this process. Lip reading offers an effective solution to these challenges. With the growing success of deep learning architectures, research on lip reading has gained momentum. The aim of this study is to create a lip reading dataset for Turkish digit recognition and to conduct predictive analyses. The dataset has divided into two subsets: the face region and the lip region. CNN, LSTM, and 3DCNN-based models, including C3D, I3D, and 3DCNN+BiLSTM, were used. While LSTM models are effective in processing temporal data, 3DCNN-based models, which can process both spatial and temporal information, achieved higher accuracy in this study. Experimental results showed that the dataset containing only the lip region performed better; accuracy rates for CNN, LSTM, C3D, and I3D on the lip region were 67.12%, 75.53%, 86.32%, and 93.24%, respectively. The 3DCNN-based models achieved higher accuracy due to their ability to process spatio-temporal data. Furthermore, an additional 1.23% improvement was achieved through ensemble learning, with the best result reaching 94.53% accuracy. Ensemble learning, by combining the strengths of different models, provided a meaningful improvement in overall performance. These results demonstrate that 3DCNN architectures and ensemble learning methods yield high success in addressing the problem of lip reading in the Turkish language. While our study focuses on Turkish digit recognition, the proposed methods have the potential to be successful in other languages or broader lip reading applications.

Topographic Analysis of the Periorbital Region Including Orbicularis Oculi Muscle Based on Ultrasonography Interpretation.

Ultrasonographic examination is easy, fast, safe, and used in various fields; however, its application to the facial area has been limited. Complex anatomical structures are mixed within thin, soft tissues in the facial region; therefore, understanding their structural characteristics is crucial. This study aimed to use ultrasonography to obtain information on the layered structure and soft tissue thickness of the eye area around the orbicularis oculi muscle and provide guidance for clinical practice. Healthy volunteers (33 men and 19 women; mean age: 28.4 years) underwent ultrasonography with nine reference points. The soft tissue thickness, including the orbicularis oculi muscle, was measured on monochromatic images. Ultrasonographic scans were performed at facial landmarks using linear transducers (IO8-17, E-CUBE15, Alpinion Medical System, Seoul, Korea), with images scanned transversely. The thickness was measured using ImageJ (National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA). The mean thickness of the orbicularis oculi muscle was 1.56 ± 0.45 mm (range 1.03-2.31 mm). The highest thickness was measured at the points VII (2.31 ± 0.68 mm) and VI (2.15 ± 0.48 mm). The mean depth of the orbicularis oculi muscle was 1.63 ± 0.62 mm (range 0.88-2.80 mm), and the most superficial point was 0.88 ± 0.99, at point VII. This study provides critical anatomical data that can enhance the precision of ultrasound-guided procedures in the periorbital area, allowing clinicians to accurately target the muscle layer and soft tissue structures. By utilizing these findings, practitioners can optimize treatment effectiveness, reduce complications, and improve outcomes in cosmetic procedures such as botulinum toxin injections, filler placements, and other non-invasive facial treatments. The detailed anatomical insights gained from this study will help bridge the gap between anatomical understanding and clinical application, promoting safer and more efficient aesthetic interventions.

Area-Specific Assessment of Stratum Corneum Hydration and Transepidermal Water Loss in Pediatric Patients With Atopic Dermatitis.

SCORring atopic dermatitis (SCORAD) is widely used to assess the severity of atopic eczema, but score systems based on the entire body may be limited in effective monitoring and intervention. It is crucial to monitor moisture levels in each affected body part, but empirical research is still lacking. The objective of this study was to analyze the levels of stratum corneum hydration (SCH) and transepidermal water loss (TEWL) in atopic dermatitis (AD) patients, focusing on the presence and location of atopic lesions at different body sites. The levels of TEWL and SCH were measured using the AF200 AquaFlux and the Corneometer, respectively, at 15 body sites. 98 children under the age of 10 were measured, including 83 AD patients and 15 in the control group. Patients were also assessed with SCORAD and for the presence of atopic lesions at each body site. 58.7% of AD patients had lesions in the antecubital fossa and popliteal fossa, with corresponding low SCH levels and high TEWL in the upper body. The differences in TEWL between the control group and AD patients were confirmed significant in the neck and antecubital fossa regions, while differences in SCH were identified in the face, antecubital fossa, and popliteal fossa regions. A higher TEWL was found among AD patients with atopic lesions in the face and ankle. This study suggests that continuous monitoring of SCH and TEWL levels at specific body sites can provide insights into identifying vulnerable body areas to AD and supplement the SCORAD system for more effective clinical intervention and prevention strategies.

Multiple roles for retinoid signaling in craniofacial development.

Retinoic acid (RA) signaling plays multiple essential roles in development of the head and face. Animal models with mutations in genes involved in RA signaling have enabled understanding of craniofacial morphogenic processes that are regulated by the retinoid pathway. During craniofacial morphogenesis RA signaling is active in spatially restricted domains defined by the expression of genes involved in RA production and RA breakdown. The spatial distribution of RA signaling changes with progressive development, corresponding to a multiplicity of craniofacial developmental processes that are regulated by RA. One important role of RA signaling occurs in the hindbrain. There RA contributes to specification of the anterior-posterior (AP) axis of the developing CNS and to the neural crest cells (NCC) which form the bones and nerves of the face and pharyngeal region. In the optic vesicles and frontonasal process RA orchestrates development of the midface, eyes, and nasal airway. Additional roles for RA in craniofacial development include regulation of submandibular salivary gland development and maintaining patency in the sutures of the cranial vault.

ViT-Based Face Diagnosis Images Analysis for Schizophrenia Detection.

Computer-aided schizophrenia (SZ) detection methods mainly depend on electroencephalogram and brain magnetic resonance images, which both capture physical signals from patients' brains. These inspection techniques take too much time and affect patients' compliance and cooperation, while difficult for clinicians to comprehend the principle of detection decisions. This study proposes a novel method using face diagnosis images based on traditional Chinese medicine principles, providing a non-invasive, efficient, and interpretable alternative for SZ detection. An innovative face diagnosis image analysis method for SZ detection, which learns feature representations based on Vision Transformer (ViT) directly from face diagnosis images. It provides a face features distribution visualization and quantitative importance of each facial region and is proposed to supplement interpretation and to increase efficiency in SZ detection while keeping a high detection accuracy. A benchmarking platform comprising 921 face diagnostic images, 6 benchmark methods, and 4 evaluation metrics was established. The experimental results demonstrate that our method significantly improves SZ detection performance with a 3-10% increase in accuracy scores. Additionally, it is found that facial regions rank in descending order according to importance in SZ detection as eyes, mouth, forehead, cheeks, and nose, which is exactly consistent with the clinical traditional Chinese medicine experience. Our method fully leverages semantic feature representations of first-introduced face diagnosis images in SZ, offering strong interpretability and visualization capabilities. It not only opens a new path for SZ detection but also brings new tools and concepts to the research and application in the field of mental illness.

Gaze Patterns During Evaluation of Facial Attractiveness: An Eye‐Tracking Investigation

BackgroundObjective, controlled eye‐tracking measurement of gaze patterns during layperson evaluation of facial attractiveness is currently lacking.ObjectivesTo objectively investigate (1) where on the face laypeople direct their attention when assessing attractiveness compared with a control group, and (2) whether increased fixation on certain facial regions is associated with high attractiveness ratings.MethodsLay observers viewed a cohort of 40 faces with a diverse age, sex, and racial distribution. Observers were either allowed to free‐gaze without a specific task or rate facial attractiveness for 10 seconds per face while their gaze was recorded by an eye‐tracking system.ResultsForty‐seven observers assessed facial attractiveness (mean age 35.1 years (range 21–76), 62% female) and 57 observers free‐gazed at the facial photos without a specific task (mean age 35.5 years (range 22–66), 54% female). Preliminary analysis showed that sex of both the face and observer substantially influence gaze‐attractiveness associations (p &lt; 0.05). Mixed effects analysis suggests that when males assessed female facial attractiveness, increased fixation time at the mouth correlated most strongly with high attractiveness (p = 0.001), whereas when females assessed male faces, increased fixation at the eyes (p &lt; 0.001) and hair (p = 0.002) were most strongly associated with high ratings of attractiveness.ConclusionsIncreased gaze at the mouth in females and eyes and hair in males is associated with significantly higher ratings of attractiveness by observers of the opposite sex. Practitioners may want to pay special attention to these areas when designing an evidence‐based aesthetic treatment plan.Level of EvidenceNA Laryngoscope, 2024

Exploring the Impact of Nature-Based Solutions for Hydrological Extremes Mitigation in Small Mixed Urban-Forest Catchment

Many regions in Europe face increasing issues with flooding and droughts due to changing rainfall patterns caused by climate change. For example, higher rainfall intensities increase urban flooding. Nature-based solutions (NbS) are suggested as a key mitigation strategy for floods. This study aims to address and mitigate the challenges faced in Tivoli natural park in Ljubljana regarding high peak discharges and low-flow issues in the creek entering the sewer system. The study involves setting up, calibrating and validating a Hydrologic Engineering Centre–Hydrologic Modelling System (HEC-HMS) model using available data. This study analyses NbS, such as small ponds, green roofs and permeable paving, to reduce peak discharge. Runoff was reduced by an average of 32.4% with all NbS implemented and peak discharge by 20 L/s. Permeable parking performed best, with an average runoff reduction of 6.4%, compared to 4.8% for permeable streets and 5.9% for green roofs. The ponds reduced peak discharge, although their effectiveness varied between rainfall events. Rainfall events with higher volumes and durations tended to overwhelm the proposed solutions, reducing their effectiveness. The ability of HEC-HMS to model NbS is also discussed. The curve number (CN) parameter and impervious % alterations to simulate NbS provided quantitative data on changes in runoff and discharge.

Overcoming occlusions in complex environments to achieve robust perception of human emotions

Abstract To effectively address the emotional well-being of elderly individuals living alone using of home care robotic systems, it is essential to possess the ability to precisely identify facial expressions within complex domestic settings. Facial expression recognition (FER) in complex environments faces significant challenges due to factors such as facial occlusions. To address this challenge, this paper proposes a method called the Dual-Branch Attention and Multi-Scale Feature Fusion Network (DAMFF-Net). First, we perform feature extraction on facial images and input the resulting feature maps into an improved dual-branch attention fusion module (DBAF) to capture long-range dependencies between different facial regions. Simultaneously, using the residual multi-scale module that we designed, we obtain fine-grained multi-scale features to ensure that both preceding and subsequent feature subsets contain rich scale information. Next, we globally fuse the feature maps from the feature extraction stage with those from the residual multi-scale module to enhance facial expression recognition accuracy in cases where certain facial feature regions are occluded. Finally, we employ decision-level fusion in order to deal with the categorization findings. Experiments were conducted on the RAF-DB, CK+ and AffectNet-7 datasets, and comparative results indicated that the proposed method achieved a respective enhancement of 5.79%, 6.68% and 5.86% in facial expression recognition accuracy.

Assessment of Facial Pain After Internal Carotid Artery Stenting: The Role of External Carotid Artery Overstenting.

Background: The external carotid artery (ECA) supplies blood to various facial and neck regions and may contribute to collateral cerebral perfusion. With the rise in carotid artery stenting (CAS) as a treatment for carotid stenosis, ECA overstenting has become a common procedure feature. This study aimed to assess the incidence, characteristics, and duration of facial pain following CAS, hypothesizing that ECA overstenting may contribute to facial pain. Materials and Methods: This prospective study included 55 patients treated with CAS for internal carotid artery (ICA) stenosis at a single center. Patients' facial pain was evaluated using a numeric rating scale (NRS) before, immediately after, and 24 h post-CAS. Patient data, including demographics, comorbidities, and procedural details, were analyzed to assess the relationship between ICA stenosis degree, ECA diameter changes, and facial pain incidence. Results: CAS was associated with intraoperative facial pain in 27.27% of patients, with 7.28% reporting residual pain 24 h post-procedure. Pain occurrence was significantly higher in patients with lower ICA stenosis (p = 0.04). The median ECA diameter decreased from 4.11 mm to 3.16 mm (p < 0.001) after CAS, with ECA overstenting observed in 96.4% of cases. No significant relationship was found between pain severity and stent width or length. Conclusions: This study highlights that CAS significantly decreases the diameter of ECA. Additionally, ECA overstenting might be associated with perioperative and postoperative facial pain, emphasizing the need for careful monitoring of ECA patency following CAS.

Listen to Your Face: A Face Authentication Scheme Based on Acoustic Signals

Face authentication (FA) schemes are widely adopted in smart homes nowadays. However, existing FA systems for smart appliances are commonly camera-based and hence experience performance degradation in poor illumination conditions. Mainstream FA systems based on radio frequency require dedicated hardware that is inaccessible to many appliances. In this paper, we propose an acoustic signals-based FA scheme that extracts acoustic signal features associated with facial 3D geometries to achieve FA named SoundFace . This scheme can be widely deployed on most appliances in home environments. We propose a novel two-stage locating approach based on acoustic sensing to capture the signal variation of the user’s face and separate the face region echoes from multipath interferences in the distance dimension. To obtain distinguishable facial features, we design a Convolutional Neural Network (CNN)-based feature extractor. In addition, the acoustic signal is highly susceptible to different changes in practical authentication. To overcome it, we utilize a transfer learning technique with little training overhead to enable SoundFace resilient to various authentication changes. Extensive evaluations demonstrate that SoundFace achieves an average true authentication rate of over 96.2% and an equal error rate of 4.2%, and it is robust to various real-world settings.

Face Forgery Detection Using Deep Learning

The rising occurrence of forged content poses a threat to the authenticity of multimedia. This research suggests a simplified hybrid architecture as an effective method for detecting face forgeries. The framework includes CNN for dependable classification, EfficientNet for robust feature extraction, and MTCNN for precise face detection. MTCNN ensures that high-quality input is produced for feature extraction by accurately localizing facial regions. The CNN classifier utilizes the extracted features in order to distinguish between authentic and manipulated content, and EfficientNet, which has become famous for its good performance and computational efficiency, is able to capture face patterns at a subtle level. Transfer learning enhances the adaptability of the model toward new manipulation techniques because it pre- trains on a large-scale dataset before fine-tuning on data specifically related to deepfakes. Key Words: Deep Learning, Deepfakes, Face Forgery, Multimedia forensics, CNN.

Cross-dataset micro-expression identification based on facial ROIs contribution quantification

Abstract In this work, we propose a novel cross-dataset micro-expression identification method based on facial regions of interest contribution quantification, where the training samples are from the source dataset and the test samples are from the target dataset. Specifically, a micro-expression video clip (i.e., a sample) is first sampled at intervals to capture an image sequence consisting of multiple consecutive video frames. Then, locate and crop the facial area in the image frame, and perform facial landmark detection on the cropped area. Next calculate the optical-flow field of the image sequence, and extract the improved Main Directional Mean Optical-flow feature. Finally, the learned group sparse model is used as the classifier to predict the label information of the unmarked target samples, so as to complete the category recognition of micro-expressions. Extensive cross-dataset comparative experiments on four spontaneous micro-expression datasets, CASME, CASME II, SMIC-HS, and SAMM, show that the recognition strategy proposed in this work is effective. Compared with several other advanced recognition methods, our method has better cross-dataset recognition performance, not only the classification accuracy is higher, but also the classification stability is better when faced with different target datasets and different micro-expression categories. It can be applied in many fields such as clinical diagnosis, interrogation, negotiation, and national security.

Diamond Technique: A Triple Treatment for Neck and Décolletage Rejuvenation.

In the pursuit of integral beauty and a harmonious overall appearance, individuals are increasingly seeking cosmetic treatments for both facial and extrafacial regions. Among these areas, the neck and décolleté have become focal points for care due to their visibility and susceptibility to postsurgical scarring and dyschromia compared with the face. Environmental stressors and sun exposure contribute to aging signs in these areas, prompting a demand for effective, minimally invasive procedures with reduced downtime and minimal risks. Biostimulators, hyaluronic acid, laser therapy, microfocused ultrasound and neurotoxins have become key players in addressing these concerns. This manuscript introduces the Diamond technique, which uses a diamond-shaped acetate device to perform a minimally invasive protocol combining calcium hydroxyapatite, hyaluronic acid, and incobotulinumtoxinA for neck and décolleté rejuvenation. The technique involves two steps: solution preparation and device-guided injections. The diamond-shaped device was developed to guide the injections, enhancing precision and reproducibility and facilitating medical training. The device's strategic markings aid in solution application, ensuring a multidimensional approach to rejuvenation. Four female patients, aged between 55 and 63 years were used to demonstrate the technique, with two categorized as grade II and two as grade III according to the Merz scale of neck laxity at rest. The four examples demonstrate improvements in skin laxity, wrinkles, and overall skin quality. Two participants reported "good results," and two reported results "beyond expectations." The Diamond technique's potential lies in its ability to provide predictable outcomes, individualized treatments, and patient satisfaction. While the authors assert the technique's safety and efficacy, the need for controlled studies is crucial. Rigorous, long-term studies are warranted to validate its effectiveness and safety compared with the existing approaches.

Translated article] Botulinum Toxin for Aesthetic Use in Facial and Cervical Regions: A Review of the Techniques Currently Used in Dermatology.

Botulinum toxin infiltration is one of the most widely performed aesthetic procedures at the aesthetic dermatology office. Although infiltrative techniques have been known for quite a few years, several changes have been described so far, mainly based on anatomical knowledge. There are consensus guidelines available for injecting neuromodulators where one can see both the doses of toxin indicated for each muscle and the injection techniques. After a systematic review of the articles currently available, this article intends to summarize the infiltration techniques described both for the face and neck, while considering new anatomical considerations, new injection techniques published to date, and pearls and tricks for a better understanding of how to inject the botulinum toxin and improve our injection techniques. In our opinion it is important to treat the lower third to complement the treatment of the upper third and, in some patients, the partial blocking of some muscles of the middle third. With this comprehensive treatment of face and neck muscles we can achieve more natural and harmonious results.