Trends in horizontal periocular asymmetry

Abstract

Objective: To determine whether there is laterality predominance in the horizontal dimensions of the periocular region.

Design: Retrospective study.

Participants: Patients >18 years of age who presented to a single academic ophthalmology department. Exclusion criteria included history of facial trauma or surgery, aesthetic injections, or other periocular-altering processes.

Methods: Standardized digital photographs were obtained, and periocular structures were measured with Image J software. The midline was defined as the midpoint between the medial canthi, and the distances measured include midline to medial canthus, pupil centre, lateral canthus, and lateral zygoma. The palpebral fissure width was calculated as the distance between the lateral canthus and medial canthus. Data analysis was done for the full cohort and subsequently according to patient-identified gender.

Results: Periocular structures were measured in 83 patients (50 female and 33 male) with a mean age of 57.0 ± 16.2 years (range, 22-84 years). Right-sided predominance was found to be increasingly significant for the following variables: midline to pupil centre (31.34 mm vs 31.08 mm, p < 0.01), midline to lateral canthus (42.57 mm vs 42.23 mm, p < 0.005), and midline to lateral zygoma (65.70 mm vs 64.01 mm, p < 0.001).

Conclusions: Photographic analysis of adults with no periocular-altering history demonstrates that there is a right-sided predominance in the horizontal dimension of the midline to the pupil, lateral canthus, and zygoma with increasing significance. Asymmetry of horizontal periocular measurements was more prevalent in males.