Photogrammetric Based Analysis of Facial and Nasal Indices: A Cross-sectional Study among the Igbo Ethnic Group of Nigeria

Background: Facial and nasal indices have great value in forensic identification and all specialty concerns with the treatment of the face. The study aims to evaluate the facial and nasal index of the Igbo ethnic group of Nigeria.

Methods: 300 (150 males and 150 females) subjects of Igbo origin volunteered for the study. Each subject's frontal and profile view photographs were taken in the Natural Head Position and analyzed using Pro-Image Facial Software Version 2 to evaluate the facial width, facial height, nasal width, and nasal height. Facial and nasal indices were calculated and used to obtain the facial, and nasal types. Data were analyzed with IBM SPSS (version 25).

Results: The study showed that the mean values of the facial and nasal indices for females were 70.35±6.61 and 105.48±12.97 while males had 68.47±6.04, and 86.21±10.82 respectively. 96.2% and 94.7% of males and females have hyperleptoprosopic facial type; platyrrhine type of nose was dominant in both sexes. There was a significant sex difference in the facial index (P =0.048), nasal index (P=0.0001), facial type (P=0.022), and nasal type (P=0.0001).

Conclusion: The sex variations observed in facial index, nasal index, and facial and nasal types among the Igbo ethnic group of Nigeria would serve as a reference to clinical anatomists and forensic anthropologists.