Facial asymmetry, the right-side dominance: A retrospective analysis of 315 consecutive series of patients

Abstract

Background: Asymmetry of the face is a common finding that has been discussed in a variety of fields including art, poetry, philosophy, and medicine. In the surgical literature, facial asymmetry in general and the laterality of this observation were described mostly as a casual note, without profound discussion. In our study, we hypothesis that facial asymmetry in the normal unbiased population has a unique laterality appearance. Patients and methods: A consecutive series of 315 patients were included in the study, and all had anterior facial digital pictures taken in the same technique and loaded onto Image-J Software™. Four measurements were taken from the midline, to the right and left sides, to the Zygoma point in the middle face, and to the Gonion point in the lower face. The results given by pixels were loaded onto an excel sheet, office 2016 software™, and processed and analyzed by SPSS software™. Results: Using the paired t-test, the middle and lower thirds of the face on the right side had a significant dominance size wise with p-values of < 0.019 and < 0.039, respectively. Conclusion: Our study results support our main hypothesis and strongly demonstrate right side, size wise, and dominance in the middle and lower face.

Keywords

• facial asymmetry
• laterality
• mandible
• zygoma
• dominant facial side
• dominant facial size