Differences in horizontal, neoclassical facial canons in Chinese (Han) and North American Caucasian populations

Abstract

To better our ability to analyze the facial disproportions of patients of Chinese ancestry, we compared the validity of four neoclassical canons of facial proportion in Chinese and North American Caucasians populations. We tested the frequency of four horizontal facial canons and their eight variations in 206 healthy adults (105 males and 101 females, 18-25 years old) belonging to the predominant ethnic group (Han: 400 million) of the Chinese population, and compared them to those of 103 healthy young North American Caucasian adults. The nose width corresponded to one-quarter of the face width (the nasofacial canon) significantly more frequently in Chinese participants (51.5%) than in Caucasian adults (36.9%). The nose was narrower than one-quarter of the face width in 38.8% of North American Caucasians and in 21.8% of Chinese; this difference was also statistically significant. In defiance of the naso-oral canon, the mouths of Chinese people were significantly more often narrower than 1.5 times the nose width (71.8%), while in North American Caucasian ethnics the mouth was significantly more frequently wider (60.2%).