Morphological differences of facial soft tissue contours from child to adult of Japanese males: a three-dimensional cross-sectional study.

OBJECTIVE To evaluate morphological differences of the facial soft tissue surface between male Japanese adults and children. DESIGN 20 adult Japanese males (average age 28 years) and 20 Japanese boys (average age 5.5 years) with normal occlusion were selected for this study. The images of the subjects' facial surface were obtained with a 3-D laser scanner. To evaluate the three-dimensional morphological differences of the facial soft tissue, we transformed the coordinates of 16 facial landmarks to a new reference plane and compared the adults' and children's facial form drawn to the same scale in the same coordinate system. RESULTS The morphological difference ratio of the lower facial area was higher than in the upper facial area, and the nose and lower face changed more forward than downward. The morphological difference ratio of the mid face width was smaller than other areas. CONCLUSION Our study suggests that the morphological facial soft tissue differences between Japanese adults and children are more forward and downward than laterally, manifesting in a facial form of adults that is deeper and narrow.