Facial form analysis of the lower and middle face in young Korean women

ABSTRACT

Nowadays facial skeletal contouring which have developed in craniofacial surgery, acquired popularity in aesthetic surgery. On planning aesthetic surgery, patient's desire must be considered first but it seems to be essential to have an objective standard of facial form. Anthropometric analysis, cephalometric analysis, and photogrammetric analysis were developed for this purpose but with a limitation in three dimensional analysis. Barnett and Whitaker(1986) developed a simple three dimensional analytic system of middle and lower face and reported average values and standard deviations for young Caucasian women. We performed the same analysis for age matched young Korean women and found some difference between young Caucasian women and young Korean women as follows; 1. Young Korean women's middle and lower face is wider than young Caucasian women's face in horizontal dimension. 2. Young Korean women's middle and lower face is shorter than young Caucasian women's face in anterior-posterior dimension. 3. The difference in vertical dimension between the two groups is minimal. 4. In angular relationship, young Korean women's anterior and inferior angles are larger than young Caucasian women's angles. These findings are coincident with other author's observations that Oriental face is wider and rounder than Caucasian face and Orientals have more prominent malar area and mandible angle. For Korean people, with many needs for aesthetic correction of prominent zygoma and mandible angle, this three dimensional analytic system will be useful in planning surgery and research for middle and lower face deformities.