Area of Nasal Triangle in an Adult Human Dry Skull: An Anatomical Study

Abstract

Background: The nose is a piriform aperture on the face having roots and a tip or base. Root is continuous above with the forehead. It is one of the most prominent parts of the face which comprises of bony and cartilaginous portions. The bony part is formed by nasal bone, frontal bone and maxilla. The cartilaginous part is mainly formed by septal, major alar, lateral cartilage, and a few minor cartilages. Present study was carried out with objectives of determining important measurements like distance between right and left infraorbital foramina to nasion, distance between right and left infraorbital foramina and nasal height. Then findings are used to determine nasal index. Methods: All twenty-five dry adult human skulls are collected from Department of Anatomy, School of Basic Science, and Chitwan Medical College for study. Gender and ethnicity of scapula were undefined. The ethical clearance was taken from IRC-CMC (Ref: CMC-IRC/079/080-050). All damaged skull and small skull of pediatric age group are excluded. Nasal index was calculated by using formula nasal index = nasal width / nasal height X 100. Photographs were taken. Statistical analysis was done using SPSS 20 version software and analyzed as frequency and distribution. Total twenty-five of skulls were measured. Results: Among the twenty-four human dry skulls, with one damaged skull is excluded, study showed that right sided mean distance between nasion and right sided infraorbital foramen and left sided mean distance between nasion and left sided infraorbital foramen are 40.57±3.71 mm and 39.53±4.77 mm respectively. The mean distance between right and left infraorbital foramen, mean nasal height and mean nasal index are 46.80±8.52 mm,16.98±3.008 mm and 47.74±10.90 respectively mm i.e., Hyper Leptorrhine (≤54.9). Conclusion: The data obtained from the present study will be useful when repairing the nose, for facial reconstructive surgeries and also in forensic investigation.