Morphologic alterations ear, nose and lip detected with aging through facial photoanthropometric analysis

Abstract

Background: Understanding the morphologic alterations of the human face over the time is an essential step towards optimal simulations of facial age progression. In practice, these simulations contribute to the forensic routine by tracking and recognizing missing persons.
Objective: This study aimed to assess the morphometric facial alterations with aging – concerning specifically the development of ear, nose and lip in relation to other facial structures.
Material and methods: The sample consisted of 700 photographs taken standardly in frontal view from male and female Caucasian subjects aged from 20 to 80 years old. The sample was divided in 7 age groups (20, 30, 40, 50, 60, 70 and 80 years old), in which 50 males and 50 females were distributed homogenously. Photoanthropometric analysis was applied with SAFF 2D® 2.0.05 (SEPAEL/INC, Federal Police, Brazil) software package considering 36 facial landmarks. A single examiner analyzed the sample aided by two other examiners for the assessment of intra-/inter-rater reliability. Results: The most evident alterations found in the facial structures consisted of the enlargement of the nose and ears with aging, as well the reduction in size of the lip thickness. These alterations varied considerably in the specific age ranges studied in this research being different between males and females.
Conclusion: The present outcomes indicated the possibility of quantifying morphometric alterations observed in the human face with aging. These alterations may support the forensic practice providing tools for age estimation based on photographic analyses.