Grow and development of facial profile in a Mexican population series

Abstract

The aim of the present study is to known the morphological variation and the influence of the different ontogenetic mechanisms (allometry, development and growth) into the facial profile of a transversal sample of photographies of mexican population. We select 703 facial photographs in left lateral plane, from caramex database, and we digitalized and analized by means of geometric morphometrics, 19 landmarks. We compute multivariate statistical analysis for known the morphological differences by sex and age group, as well as the differences in the patterns of morphological change during growth and development. We found statistical differences (p < 0.0001) by sex and for age group for the facial profile. In addition, we found that ontogenetic components influenced in varying degrees the morphological variation, being the allometry the component that present the lower contribution to phenotype. Finally, the morphology of the outer ear showed subtle changes during ontogeny, principally in the earlobe. The results are discussed in relation with the previously reported for other populations.