The concept of pattern in mani cial growth

T he phenomenon of human craniofacial development includes both pattern (the maintenance of the configuration of the face over time) and growth (the geometric changes in size and shape of craniofacial structures). These concepts, both of which are necessary, may seem contradictory rather than complementary to human biologists dealing with the face theoretically and clinically. How can the face grow in size and yet maintain its own morphologic characteristics? How is the face of the little child, maturing through the accelerated, differentiated, and turbulent period of adolescent development, still recognizable in appearance years later? The primary purpose of this article is to attempt to reconcile these apparently contradictory concepts, to relate “pattern” to “‘growth” in the human craniofacial complex, and to attempt to quantify the concept of pattern in the context of normal and abnormal growth.