A Three-Dimensional Anthropometric Evaluation of Facial Morphology

Abstract

Objectives: The aims of this study were to evaluate sexual dimorphism for facial features within Italian and Egyptian populations and to compare the facial morphology by sex between these 2 populations.

Materials and methods: Three-dimensional (3D) facial images were acquired by using the portable 3dMDface System, which captured 259 subjects from 2 population groups of Italian (n = 139) and Egyptian (n = 120). Each population was categorized into male and female groups for evaluation. All subjects in the groups were aged between 18 and 30 years and had no apparent facial anomalies. A total of 23 anthropometric landmarks were identified on the 3D faces of each subject. The independent t test was used to analyze each data set obtained within each subgroup.

Results: Egyptian women tend to have distinct facial features when compared with Italian women; they had less prominent eyes, more nasal width, more height of upper and lower faces and more height of upper and lower vermilion lengths. Egyptian and Italian males demonstrated very close facial features. However, Egyptian males had more nasal width, length of alare, and mandibular height.

Conclusions: Sexual dimorphism for facial features was presented in both the Italian and Egyptian populations. In addition, there were significant differences in facial morphology between these 2 populations, especially in females.