A photographic study of the soft-tissue profile of the Negro population.

The present investigation was undertaken to compare the Ricketts, Steiner, and Holdaway soft-tissue values to the Negro individual. The study involved the photographs of more than 1,000 North American Negroes, (500 males and 500 females). One-hundred of the most attractive were selected by a group of judges of different social status levels. In this group fifty male and fifty female soft-tissue profile analyses were performed. The analyses considered were Ricketts' esthetic plane, Holdaway's H line, and Steiner's S line, because they are the most often used and widely accepted. The results of the investigation showed that the black individual was more protrusive in soft-tissue profile and that the standards for white persons established by Ricketts, Steiner, and Holdaway are not applicable to the black individual. Black males were reported to be more protrusive than black females. The study utilized a line drawn from soft-tissue nasion to soft-tissue pogonion. Measurements were made from this line to evaluate the soft-tissue profile. The use of this line suggests a method for measuring the profile in millimeters.