RESUMO
Existing soft tissue analyses reference profile characteristics to lines determined by surface landmarks. This study uses surface landmarks only to define an area, and soft tissue profiles are analyzed in terms of the surface area of each component part present within this area. The profiles of 66 young adults were measured, and the mean total profile area and all of the component parts except the nose were statistically larger in the men than in the women. The mean female nose was larger, but this difference was not significant. On the basis of percentage contributions, the mean female nose contributed significantly more to the total mean female profile than the mean male nose did to the mean male total profile. The contribution of the mean male chin to the total mean male soft tissue profile was significantly larger than the contribution of the mean female chin to the total mean female profile. When compared by percent contributions, both the upper and lower lips of the men and women contributed nearly equally to their respective profiles. The overall result was that the mean female profile was more convex and the mean male profile was relatively straighter.
