Photoanthropometry of the Face in the Young White Brazilian Population

Abstract

The aim of the present study is to describe the simplified facial pattern of young Brazilian men and women using the facial index (FI), upper face index (UFI), and nasal index (NI) in indirect anthropometric measurements applied to frontal photographic images. The images were obtained from 660 adult white men and 689 adult white women aged 30 years ± 6 months, and classified according to regions of birth, as follows: south (S), southeast (SE), midwest (MW), northeast (NE), and north (N). The nasion, zygion, gnathion, stomion, subnasale, and alare landmarks were labeled on the images using the SAFF 2D® software. Based on the coordinates, the linear distances between the landmarks of interest were calculated and presented as indices. The analysis of variance and Student’s t-test were used for assessing the regions of birth and gender, respectively. The collected data allowed obtaining the facial profile of the young adult Brazilian population. There were differences in the facial profiles between men and women and also between some regions, especially between the N and the other Brazilian regions (p<0.05). The UFI did not show a statistically significant difference (p>0.05) between genders for any of the regions. The discriminant analysis for gender assessment demonstrated higher accuracy when the three indices were analyzed together. In the decision tree for gender assessment, the NI showed better results than the other indices.

Facial Anthropometric Measurements and Photographs — An Interdisciplinary Study

“…There exist numerous 2D face databases for various purposes. Facial anthropometry researchers build 2D face databases in the healthcare field [1], [2], [8], [9], [17] to evaluate facial feature differences between populations. On the other hand, computer vision researchers build 2D face databases [27]- [37], [41] with various poses, illuminations, expressions as well as different accessories (e.g., spectacles, beard, mustache) to evaluate face recognition and detection algorithms.…”

“…These landmarks are used when calculating measurements using traditional featurebased approaches (linear and vertical) that are handcrafted by researchers and have successfully been used in ethnicity and sex estimation studies. Linear measurement studies [1], [2], [2]- [4] compute horizontal and/or vertical distances between identified anthropometric landmarks using Euclidean distances. Whereas, angular measurement studies [5]- [7] generate facial angles from anthropometric landmarks instead.…”

“…Nevertheless, few studies to date have used photography to find the distinguishing features for different ethnic groups, and therefore is the focus of the present study. Most healthcare literature [2], [4], [8], [23], [24] uses anthropometrical measurements-based classification scheme, while most computer vision literature [10]- [12] uses appearance-based classification schemes instead. Although both healthcare and computer vision literature use different classification schemes, they focus on distinguishing features in one or two major ethnic groups, with almost no attention given to sub-ethnic groups, such as Chinese, Indian, and Malay in the Asian category.…”

Facial soft tissue thickness in forensic facial reconstruction: Impact of regional differences in Brazil

“…After the world wars of the 20th century, the presence of immigrants from Japan, Eastern Europe, the Middle East, Italy and Germany became important [14]. Their distribution was not even among the regions and, therefore, it is clear that each segment of Brazil has its own physical features that represent the dominant population groups, with different characteristics [15]. The increasing and continuous lack of ancestral uniformity, as it is observed in Brazil, raises the question whether or not the use of a single STT chart is appropriate for the estimation of facial morphology [16].…”

Reconstrução facial forense: estudo da espessura facial por meio de tomografias computadorizadas de feixe cônico em brasileiros

“…O território brasileiro com sua extensão de proporções continentais, é formado por regiões geográficas (norte, nordeste, sudeste, sul e centro-oeste) com características ambientais e de formação populacional tão distintas que cada região poderia representar uma população com características distintas(14). A crescente e contínua miscigenação da população brasileira resultou numa sobreposição importante de variadas características morfológicas cranianas.…”