Bone and Soft Tissue Nasal Angles Discrepancies and Overlying Skin Thickness: A Computed Tomography Study

Area of Science:

• Plastic Surgery
• Anatomy
• Medical Imaging

Background:

• Establishing normal nasal angle and skin thickness values is crucial for rhinoplasty.
• Understanding the relationship between bone and soft tissue nasal morphology is key in surgical planning.

Purpose of the Study:

• To determine normal bone and soft tissue nasal angles and skin thickness in Middle Eastern patients.
• To investigate the correlation between differences in nasal angles and skin thickness.
• To inform surgical considerations in rhinoplasty for this demographic.

Main Methods:

• Three-dimensional cephalometric analysis of 100 patients using computed tomography.
• Measurement of nasofrontal angle, pyramidal angles, and overlying skin thickness.
• Analysis of results based on sex, age, and body mass index (BMI).

Main Results:

• Soft tissue angles were significantly larger than bone angles across all measured parameters.
• Mean skin thickness varied across nasal regions: nasion (3.89 mm), rhinion (1.16 mm), and nasal tip (2.93 mm).
• A strong correlation was found between nasofrontal angle differences and nasion skin thickness.

Conclusions:

• Clinical assessment of soft tissue nasal angles is insufficient for predicting underlying bone structure in rhinoplasty.
• BMI does not impact nasal shape; ethnic group, age, and sex are critical factors.
• Rhinoplasty for Middle Eastern patients may benefit from preserving a minor skeletal hump at the nasal bone's end.