Cephalometric analysis of profile nasal esthetics. Part III. Postoperative changes after isolated superior...

In part I of this study, a method for the objective evaluation of profile nasal esthetics was presented and applied to establish normative values for young adult white males and females. Male and female nasal profile esthetics were found to be virtually identical. In part II, the data from the preoperative lateral cephalograms of 13 young adult white female patients with vertical maxillary excess (VME) were compared to the normative data established for females in part I. Results showed a distinct nasal profile in patients with VME. In this part of the study, the postoperative lateral cephalograms of the 13 female patients from part II were analyzed after surgical correction of their vertical maxillary dysplasia to determine if returning the maxilla to a more normal position effected similar changes in nasal profile esthetics. All patients had superior repositioning of the maxilla for which the magnitude of movement was greatest in the superior direction, with the mean movement being 2.3 mm superiorly. The results revealed that surgical correction of VME effected normalization of most of the nasal profile esthetic characteristics.