Improved aesthetic physicians knowledge of face anatomy through cadaver dissection

An adequate knowledge of face anatomy is an essential prerequisite for a safe aesthetic medicine practice. Cadaveric dissection is an effective teaching method of anatomy in medical training. In cadaveric dissection, the learner plays the central role of the teaching process and can observe structures in their natural localization. The Camerino and Turin Universities have been organizing for several years an international Master in Aesthetic Medicine and Therapeutics. This Master in the last 3 years has enrolled 1,000 attendants of different nationalities and consisted of two programs, one for national users, which did not include a cadaver lab and one for international users that included a cadaver lab. Attendants to the national course were 250 (145 females and 105 males), whereas those to the international course were 750 (400 females and 350 males). Each attendant received a multiple-choice questionnaire with 25 questions to ascertain knowledge of face anatomy. One week after, the attendants of the national program followed a series of video face dissection of 4 (first day) + 8 (second day) hours. The attendants to the international program followed face-to-face a dissection course with one session of 4 hours with the demonstration made by the teacher (first day). A second session lasting 8 hours in which each attendant (4 per one anatomical sample) did directly the dissection after a training session supervised by a teacher (second day). The day after the second day of training, attendants of the two groups received another multiple-choice questionnaire. A comparison between the pre-course and post-course test results between the two groups was therefore done. A statistical difference in pre-course and post-course test evaluation was noticeable between the two groups of attendants. Comparatively, the scores obtained by attendants who made directly dissections were significantly higher than those of attendants following dissection with videos. Our data suggest that cadaver anatomy training improves facial anatomy knowledge. The best scores obtained by those doing directly the dissection indicate that cadaver dissection may enhance confidence in performing facial aesthetic procedures. These findings suggest the need to introduce anatomy cadaver dissection programs in courses for aesthetic physicians training.