Researchers are scanning 6,000 volunteers for a project that aims to create 3D computer face models for reconstructive surgery.

One of the current challenges for plastic surgeons is that they do not have guidelines for facial reconstruction procedures that take into account different ethnicities and age groups. This means that function can be restored to faces, but their features may not look natural in comparison to a healthy person of the same age and ethnicity.

Now a team of researchers from Imperial College London and the Royal Free Hospital are asking visitors to the Science Museum to volunteer to have their faces scanned. The aim is to build up a database of 3D computer models of faces with different expressions, of different ethnicities and spanning different age groups.

Ultimately, these models could be used as templates for plastic surgeons, to enable them to build faces that are both functional and more natural looking for the patient. The team also believe their technology could have a range of other applications – from improving our understanding of human evolution, to enhancing lie detection methods and even helping children with autism.

This project first began in 2012 in conjunction with Great Ormond Street Hospital (under the supervision of Mr. David Dunaway), where 12,000 volunteers had their faces scanned at the Science Museum to develop 3D models with a neutral expression, across a range of different ages and ethnicities.

In 2017, the team are scanning the faces of volunteers showing a range of different expressions such as anger and sadness, to develop 3D face models that can show this expressive range.

Dr Allan Ponniah, co–lead from the Royal Free Hospital, said: “What we are aiming for is to develop bespoke 3D faces models that act as a roadmap for facial reconstruction procedures. We are still a few years away from using this procedure in surgery, but it shows real promise.

“The applications could be life changing. For instance, if we want to generate the face of a five–year–old Chinese girl, our computer program will create a model that looks realistic and gives us dimensions we can use to rebuild a face. That would be really useful for a child with a specific facial deformity. You could input data and generate a face with the closest resemblance to the patient, within the normal range.”

The data being generated by the scanning booth at the Science Museum is sent to Dr Stefanos Zafeiriou and his research group at Imperial for analysis. For the last decade, the team have been developing a system that can analyse thousands of faces in a matter of hours. If this procedure was carried out by humans it would take years.

The computer program maps the different facial landmarks such as eye sockets, noses and foreheads and other more subtle features such as the skin and corners of the lips. These landmarks are then assigned coordinates by the program so that direct comparisons can be made between the face scans. This enables the team to build up a statistical model of what an average face looks like at different stages in its growth and different ethnicities.

Visitors to the scanning booth at the Science Museum are being asked to pull different expressions including disgust, anger, fear, sadness, surprise and pain – and also to pout, flare their nostrils and puff out their cheeks. The latter movements are medically relevant for patients who have conditions like facial palsy following strokes.