The response of the facial soft tissues to one-piece surgical maxillary intrusion at the Le Fort I level was observed in 30 patients, using life-sized photographs taken prior to surgery(T1) and at 6to 12 months postsurgery(T3). The alar width of the nose increased postsurgically in all patients, while the vermillion borders of the upper land lower lips decreased in length. The linear relationships of the postsurgical full-face soft tissue changes to the surgical hard tissue changes and to the presurgery soft tissue measurements, although statistically significant, could not be used clinically to accurately predict the change in full-face soft tissue followiing maxillary intrusion procedures.