Determining Nasal Symmetry

Many patients may be seeking more symmetry to their nose. The quickest way to determine nasal symmetry is to create a point halfway between the brows. Create an additional point at the base of the nose. The line through this point will help distinguish straight from deviation.

Almost all faces are asymmetrical. In almost all faces one side is more prominent than the other. A perfectly symmetrical nose will look strange on an asymmetric face. It is better for the nose to fit the face.

Determining facial symmetry (Shah modification) -Warning Complex

There are many ways to determine facial symmetry and none are exact including this method. The first key step is accurate photography with the head in the proper position. On a good frontal photograph, several points are marked. A point is created between the eyebrows called point A. It is the exact halfway point between the brows (measured). An additional point (B) is created at the base of the nose (subnasale). a line is drawn from the pupil (black part of the eye) to the other eye. Another point (c) is placed at the top of the lip. Finally a fourth point is placed at the center of the chin (d). The line created through A and B determines nasal symmetry. The line created from A through the halfway point between C and D (pick a line path which is halfway between C and D) determines how the nose relates to the face. In order to more effectively see the effects of this line a horizontal grid is created. A line is drawn from pupil (black part of eye) to pupil. An additional line is drawn at the bottom of the nasal bones. A third line can be drawn at the bottom of the middle vault. The grid can help visuzalize how much of the nose is off to one side versus the other. In addition, it can help determine what part of the nose is deviated from center point. The top grid would represent an asymmetrical nasal bony vault, the middle grid would represent an asymmetrical middle vault, and the bottom grid would represent an asymmetric caudal septum.

It is not known why parts of our face are asymmetrical but it may represent an evolutionary protective mechanism so that our faces is less susceptible to trauma. Some patients are upset to learn that their face is not in perfect symmetry. Take heart, while some scientists have found that more and more symmetrical faces may be considered attractive, an exactly symmetric face looks strange. This can be created by creating a mirror image of a left or right face and flipping it. Seemingly attractive faces can actually become less attractive if they are exactly symmetrical.