Cephalometric analysis of profile nasal esthetics. Part II. Patients with vertical maxillary excess

In part I of this study, a method for the objective evaluation of profile nasal esthetics was detailed, and normative values for males and females were presented. In part II, identical methodology was applied to the preoperative lateral cephalograms of 13 female patients with vertical maxillary excess to determine how the nasal profile esthetics of these patients varies from the norm. This data was compared to the normative data established for females in part I. Results determined that patients with vertical maxillary excess have increased nasal length caused by a more superiorly positioned soft tissue nasion, decreased thickness of soft tissue at rhinion, increased nasal form angle, and increased absolute nasal tip angle related to an increased inclination of the cranial base, increased forward projection of the anterior nasal spine (tip support), and decreased incidence of supratip break. These findings suggest a characteristic appearance similar to the type II nasal characteristic (aquiline form) established in part I.