Eye-Tracking Technology in Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery: A Systematic Review

Abstract

Background The use of eye-tracking technology in plastic surgery has gained popularity over the past decade due to its ability to assess observers’ visual preferences in an objective manner. Objectives The goal of this study was to provide a comprehensive review of eye-tracking studies in plastic and reconstructive surgery, which can aid in the design and conduct of high-quality eye-tracking studies. Methods Through application of Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic review and Meta-Analysis (PRISMA) guidelines, a comprehensive search of articles published on eye-tracking across several databases was conducted from January 1946 to January 2019. Inclusion criteria included studies evaluating the use of eye-tracking technology in the field of plastic and reconstructive surgery. The resulting publications were screened by 2 independent reviewers. Results A total of 595 articles were identified, 23 of which met our inclusion criteria. The most common application of eye-tracking was to assess individuals with cleft lip/palate (9 studies). All 19 studies that evaluated fixation patterns among conditions vs controls reported significant differences between the 2 groups. Five out of 7 studies assessing visual data between preoperative and postoperative patients identified significant differences between the preoperative and postoperative groups, whereas 2 studies did not. Nine studies examined the relation between severity indices, attractiveness scores, or personality ratings and gaze patterns. Correlation was found in 7 out of the 9 studies. Conclusions This systematic review demonstrates the utility of eye-tracking technology as a quantifiable objective assessment and emerging research tool for evaluating outcomes in several domains of plastic and reconstructive surgery.

Orbital and eyelid diseases: The next breakthrough in artificial intelligence?

“…Compared with other types of medical images, external ocular photographs are non-invasive and can be easily taken by doctors and patients with smartphones, which breaks the barrier of expensive image equipment and facilitates the application of AI . Furthermore, automatic facial recognition and eye-tracking technology, which have been widely used in safety inspection, instrument development, etc., could also be applied to AI research based on external ocular photographs (Asaad et al, 2020). In addition, visual field tests, OCT, and CT of the optic-nerve canal also play an active role in the diagnosis of orbital and eyelid diseases.…”

The Use of Eye-tracking Technology in Cleft Lip: A Literature Review

“…It has been used in various subspecialities including cosmetic surgery, facial reconstructive surgery (ear, nose, cleft), and breast reconstructive surgery. [7][8][9][10] There has been significant interest in the use of eye-tracking for the assessment of appearance outcomes in cleft surgery as this is the subspeciality within plastic surgery with the greatest number of previous eye-tracking publications. 6 This may indicate that there is a lack of robust appearance measurement techniques and the ongoing interest in finding an objective method of assessment.…”

Visual Attention, Bias, and Social Dispositions Toward People With Facial Anomalies

“…7 Eye-tracking technology has been increasingly used in the past decade to evaluate how people deploy visual attention toward those with facial differences. 8 Studies generally find that visual attention is drawn toward anomalous anatomy 9 and that the degree of visual attention correlates with the severity of the pathology or anomaly. 10 Hemifacial microsomia (HFM) is an optimal condition for studying gaze patterns because of its effects on specific facial regions, most commonly the mandible, chin, and ear.…”