A morphometric analysis of supraorbital and infraorbital foramina relative to surgical landmarks.
OBJECTIVE
The aim of the study was to examine the different morphometric variations of the supraorbital and infraorbital foramina of the facial skeleton on human skulls.


METHODS
Eighty adult human dry skulls were studied. Measurements were made to analyze the degree of variability in the location of the supraorbital and infraorbital foramina. All measurements were done bilaterally. Variations were evaluated according to gender and side.


RESULTS
There were 54 female and 26 male crania. Almost all mean measurements were longer in males than in females. A statistically significant difference was observed between the left and the right sides in 4 of 10 measurements. When comparing the morphometric measurements between left and right sides of male and female crania, 6 of 22 measurements were statistically higher in men than in women.


CONCLUSIONS
The findings suggest that gender should be taken into account when the foramina studied here are to be located. The mean location of the infraorbital nerve was about 6.5 mm inferior to the inferior orbital rim (at the point where one can palpate the zygomatico-maxillary suture), about 25 mm from the midline, and about 43 mm below the supraorbital foramen in the same vertical line. Extra care should be taken during surgical dissection in the superior orbital region especially in the middle aspect of the superior orbital rim. In general, there were changes in measurements between the genders, but the ratios of these measurements with the horizontal and vertical measurements chosen remained the same between the genders.
Chrcanovic
Bruno Ramos
BR
brunochrcanovic@hotmail.com
Abreu
Mauro Henrique Nogueira Guimarães
MH
Custódio
Antônio Luís Neto
AL
D000328:Adult; D002102:Cadaver; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009915:Orbit / Q000033:anatomy & histology*; D012016:Reference Values; D012727:Sex Characteristics; D012886:Skull / Q000033:anatomy & histology*; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric