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Hi everyone, this is my first post!
I'm sure many of you are familiar with Dr. Dean Howell who does Neurocranial Restructuring (NCR). If you check his website, he claims that he has been using facepulling devices, and when used in tandem with NCR, he can move faces forwards 3-5mm per year. The first patient that went through facepulling with him is known as "patient zero" online. Dr. Howell claims that he brought this patient's cheekbones over half an inch forwards (15mm) in three years.
Here are some before and after pictures of patient zero's profile. What do you all think? Has facepulling and NCR made any changes?
Additionally, here is a link that has videos of before he went through facepulling, and after facepulling. These videos were posted for an orthodontic treatment he was going through and that is what he is speaking about.
https://www.icnr.com/cs/cs_64.html
Do you see any structural differences? I definitely have an opinion, but wanted to share it on here.
I think it just looks like he grew a beard.
I agree. He looks the same to me. Its fascinating that there are many people out there that claim that “facepulling” has made changes, but I have yet to see the changes!
The beard shouldn't matter, as it doesn't grow on cheekbones, but these photos are inconclusive to me. The pics seem to show that he is fuller under the eyes, but a higher res photo and a front view would be helpful. I would love to see some evidence that NCR does anything like what they claim, but if it did, someone should be able to snap a decent photo of it.
I actually do agree that he does look a little bit fuller under the eyes. I just felt that the difference was so small considering that it is claimed that he had a huge change. There are photos of his front view online, but they were taken at different distances from him or something so it seems weird.
Forgive me if I'm missing something, but where does that article say anything about facepulling? The only appliance/device mentioned is ALF.
I know Ian Hedley (patient zero) is/was a proponent of facepulling, but there is no clear information regarding the exact treatment & timescales involved. Did he have it before, during or after ALF treatment?
It'd be negligent to draw any conclusions on the effectiveness of facepulling if it's being combined with an oral expansion appliance.
Those are good questions. It’s my understanding that he came to the US for the ALF and also NCR around the same time. What I do know for sure, however, is the photos I’ve posted being before and after facepulling. Dr. Howell claims that it was a success, and that his cheekbones came forward over half an inch. Do you think that has happened based on the photos?
Always tough to tell with these side by side comparisons. I can't speak to Dr Howell's claims, but based on those photos and the videos, I'd say there certainly appears to be improvements there.
It looks like there has been some maxillary upswing, and he seems to have more eye support.
But these photos can be deceptive, so it might just be that he is less tired in the after one (which would indicate better airflow, but not necessarily structural change).