Reference values of facial features in Scandinavian children measured witha range-camera technique

Reference values of facial features in white Scandinavian children were asc ertained using a newly developed range-camera technique with a three-dimens ional measuring program specifically designed for anthropometric measuremen ts. Seven facial features in 613 healthy subjects (322 girls, 291 boys), ag ed 1 month to 18 years, and nine subjects with the fetal alcohol syndrome, aged 7 to 18 years, were studied. Data were analysed by multivariate multip le regression and measurements of each facial feature plotted against age a nd presented as curves, with 95% and 99% univariate prediction limits. All children with fetal alcohol syndrome had shorter palpebral fissures, and in six of them the outer canthal distance was shorter than that in the refere nce group. The reference values presented may be useful in clinical practic e - for example, in the evaluation of children with syndromes that result i n dysmorphology of the face and in the planning of plastic and reconstructi ve surgery.