Facial asymmetry in healthy North American Caucasians. An anthropometrical study

This is a study of normal children, evaluating the degree of subtle asymmetry that can be expected in all of us. Asymmetry was found to be very common, but average differences between right and left measurements were mild (3 mm or 3%), with the right side usually the largest. The most common and largest asymmetries were found in the upper third of the face.

Craniofacial growth in plagiocephaly and Crouzon syndrome

Very little information is available in the literature regarding the morphology and growth of the cranial base, the orbits and the jaws, in patients with premature craniosynostosis. The present report deals with the craniofacial morphology and growth in plagiocephaly and Crouzon syndrome. For each anomaly a dry skull was compared with a clinical case followed longitudinally with roentgencephalometry. Metallic implants in the jaws were employed in one case. Cranial base involvement was demonstrated for both types of premature craniosynostosis. In Crouzon syndrome the cartilagenous cranial base was affected. Marked compensatory and dysplastic growth changes were observed in the facial skeleton in both anomalies. The methodological problems related to roentgencephalometric examination of patients with plagiocephaly are discussed, and a roetgencephalometric method for evaluation of exophthalmos in patients with Crouzon syndrome is presented.

The influence of prognathism surgery on the width and the length of the lower third of the face

The width and the length of the face in frontal view as important factors in facial harmony are analysed. Two groups of patients with mandibular prognathism were photographed, analysed and evaluated. The lower third of the face generally becomes shorter after a sagittal splitting operation as well as after a sagittal splitting plus additional medial ostectomy of the lower incisor region. In both groups we did not find a significant change in the width of the face. The impression of broadening the face by the sagittal splitting method is therefore subjective. In both groups, the face became more harmonious indimension following the osteotomies.

Skeletal asymmetry in esthetically pleasing faces

An x-ray cephalographic method was used to analyze 52 exceptionally well-balanced white adult faces for skeletal asymmetry in the posteroanterior (PA) projection. Three frontal facial lines were constructed using bilateral skeletal landmarks: latero-superior orbit (LO), lateral zygoma (Zyg), and gonion (Go). All subjects demonstrated measurable asymmetries. Data showed less asymmetry and more dimensional stability as the cranium is approached. A slight tendency toward right-side dominance was not statistically significant.