An Anthropometric Study of Facial and Nasal Indices in Western Maharashtrian Males

Introduction: Facial index in general and nasal index in particular are useful in forensic investigations. The facial index and nasal index provide important information about race and ethnicity. Facial anthropometry has proved its great importance in the field of facial reconstructive surgery as well as in the field of forensic science. Specific face types and nose types provide us with important information about specific types of races.

Aim: The aim of the study is to analyse the morphometric variation in facial index and nasal index as well as different types of faces and types of noses in Western Maharashtrian males.

Materials and Methods: An observational study was carried out in the five cities- Sangli, Kolhapur, Islampur, Karad and Satara of Western Maharashtra, India. A total of 535 male students of different colleges between the age group of 18-20 years were selected and measurements were taken with the help of a digital Vernier caliper in the sitting position after due approval from Institutional Ethical Committees and informed consent. A Calibrated Standard Vernier Caliper (30-centimetre length with accuracy of 0.01 mm) was used to take facial measurements. The methodology adopted for the measurements was taken from the guidelines given by Farkas L. G. in his book-“Anthropometric Facial Proportions in Medicine”. All the collected data were subjected to appropriate statistical analysis (mean, standard deviation). It was analysed by using descriptive statistics. The software used was R statistical software with a 3.5 version.

Results: The mean facial index of Western Maharashtrian males was 89.51 with a standard deviation of 4.26 and the dominant face type was Leptoprosopic which was 46.73% and the rare type of face was Hypereuriprosopic which was 0.19%. The mean nasal index of Western Maharashtrian males was 72.84 with a standard deviation of 6.86 and the dominant nose type was mesorrhine which was 63.74%.

Conclusion: Certain facial and nasal features are common in particular racial groups. Its detection can be helpful in reconstructive facial surgeries. Extensive study is required in this field to establish all the parameters of the face.