Reducing Deformation - Augmented Reality (AR) in Facelift Surgery: A Theoretical and Mathematical Study

Augmented Reality (AR) is increasingly used in the medical field to provide surgeons with pre-surgery visuals during surgery. To date, it has not been successful for facelift surgery which involves manipulation of facial soft tissues. This paper aims to provide an overview of current AR research for this type of procedure. Experiences with AR in related medical fields (i.e. oral and maxillofacial) have highlighted limitation arising from the elastic nature of facial soft tissues, which shift shape during surgery caused by patient and surgeon movement. This paper aims to increase overlay accuracy by reducing the elastic deformation error for AR during facelift surgery. The proposed system consists of a Gaussian Distribution and Tukey Weight (GDaTW) algorithm after the geometricerror algorithm has been applied. The proposed solution has been theoretically and mathematically justified, and a comparison table has been provided. Using AR to provide an accurate display of soft tissues in the mandibular aims to overcome occlusion by the patient's skin.