An appraisal of plastic reconstruction of the external nose.

The association between the morphometric dimensions of the external nose, including the thickness of the soft tissues, and various craniometric measurements has been examined on a sample of lateral radiographs of 154 males and 199 females from Vienna, Austria. In addition, the influence of age on morphometric dimensions and the soft tissue cover was tested. Multiple stepwise regression analysis revealed that nasal height and nasal length are best predicted by the dimensions of the skull, whereas nasal depth and the thickness of the soft tissues is greatly influenced by age. In males, over 50% of the variance of nasal height and nasal length were accounted for by the height of the bony nose and the prominence of the ossa nasalia, and in females it was about 40%. Although the thickness of the soft tissue is dependent on exogenous factors, such as nutrition, mimicry, and so forth, the dimensions of the bony nose apparently also influence the skin depths to some extent. High and prominent noses were found to have a thinner layer of soft tissue over the nasal bones than short and less prominent ones. It thus seems as if there is a tendency of the soft tissue cover to adjust to disharmonies of the bony profile.