title: Holdaway's analysis of the nose prominence of an adult Nigerian population.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Facial beauty is a function of harmonious balance among all parts of the face, and the nose plays a dominant role in this because of its location exactly in the middle of the face. Therefore, an evaluation of the nasal form and its position relative to other facial structures should play an important part in the assessment of patients before orthognathic surgery, rhinoplasty or orthodontics.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  The aim was to establish normative values for the nose prominence of an adult Nigerian population using Holdaway's soft tissue cephalometric analysis.
  
  
  METHODS
  Lateral cephalometric radiographs of 100 adults aged 18-25 years, with normal occlusion and a harmonious facial appearance were analyzed. The nose prominence was assessed using Holdaway's analysis. Twenty radiographs randomly selected, were retraced to assess for errors. Data analysis included descriptive statistics, Student's t-tests and analysis of variance using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The mean value recorded for the nose prominence of the study population was 3.49 mm (standard deviation [SD], 3.26 mm), with a range of -5.0 mm to 15.0 mm. Mean values obtained for females were 3.73 mm (SD, 2.88 mm) and males 3.19 mm (SD, 3.70 mm). No statistically significant gender difference was observed (P>0.05). In addition, no significant difference was observed between the nose prominence values recorded for different age-groups (P>0.05).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Normative values were established for the nose prominence of an adult Nigerian population. The values obtained for Nigerians in this study are comparatively lower than that reported for other populations. These values would aid in treatment planning for orthognathic surgery, rhinoplasty and orthodontics in Nigerians.
authors.affiliation: Department of Child Dental Health, Faculty of Dental Sciences, College of Medicine, University of Lagos, Lagos, Nigeria.
authors.forename: G I
authors.initials: GI
authors.lastname: Isiekwe
authors.forename: O O
authors.initials: OO
authors.lastname: daCosta
authors.forename: I L
authors.initials: IL
authors.lastname: Utomi
authors.forename: O O
authors.initials: OO
authors.lastname: Sanu
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D044383:Black People / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D002508:Cephalometry / Q000379:methods*; D002680:Chin; D061827:Dimensional Measurement Accuracy; D005145:Face / Q000033:anatomy & histology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008046:Lip / Q000033:anatomy & histology*; D008297:Male; D009549:Nigeria; D009666:Nose / Q000033:anatomy & histology*; D012016:Reference Values; D055815:Young Adult