SEARCHCROSS-SECTIONALbiomedical research, observational study

cross-sectional·biomedical research, observational study, research methods, epidemiology·PMC10335371

Using data‐driven phenotyping to investigate the impact of sex on 3D human facial surface morphology

Journal of Anatomy · 9 authors, 10 centres

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TL;DR

Males had larger faces overall, and both sexes showed distinct shape patterns, with males having more projected faces and greater shape variation in regions like the forehead.

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The face was partitioned into 63 hierarchically linked regions, which were analyzed using geometric morphometrics. Results showed males were significantly larger than females across all 63 facial regions. Statistically significant sex differences in shape were present in all regions, with more pronounced effects in the upper lip and forehead; for example, males had a more anteriorly projecting face overall, while females showed a relatively flatter face and greater concavity of the nasolabial fold. Males also exhibited greater shape variance, with the largest effect in the central forehead. Classification accuracy for assigning sex was highest for the full face at 97%, with most regions exceeding 75%. Limitations include the focus on adults of European descent and the observational nature of the study. The findings provide a detailed map of facial sexual dimorphism, revealing subtle, localized shape differences not apparent when analyzing the whole face.

STUDY TYPE

cross-sectional

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biomedical research

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ORIGINAL PAPER

PMC10335371

Using data‐driven phenotyping to investigate the impact of sex on 3D human facial surface morphology

Journal of Anatomy

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ABSTRACT

Abstract The effects of sex on human facial morphology have been widely documented. Because sexual dimorphism is relevant to a variety of scientific and applied disciplines, it is imperative to have a complete and accurate account of how and where male and female faces differ. We apply a comprehensive facial phenotyping strategy to a large set of existing 3D facial surface images. We investigate facial sexual dimorphism in terms of size, shape, and shape variance. We also assess the ability to correctly assign sex based on shape, both for the whole face and for subregions. We applied a predefined data‐driven segmentation to partition the 3D facial surfaces of 2446 adults into 63 hierarchically linked regions, ranging from global (whole face) to highly localized subparts. Each facial region was then analyzed with spatially dense geometric morphometrics. To describe the major modes of shape variation, principal components analysis was applied to the Procrustes aligned 3D points comprising each of the 63 facial regions. Both nonparametric and permutation‐based statistics were then used to quantify the facial size and shape differences and visualizations were generated. Males were significantly larger than females for all 63 facial regions. Statistically significant sex differences in shape were also seen in all regions and the effects tended to be more pronounced for the upper lip and forehead, with more subtle changes emerging as the facial regions became more granular. Males also showed greater levels of shape variance, with the largest effect observed for the central forehead. Classification accuracy was highest for the full face (97%), while most facial regions showed an accuracy of 75% or greater. In summary, sex differences in both size and shape were present across every part of the face. By breaking the face into subparts, some shape differences emerged that were not apparent when analyzing the face as a whole. The increase in facial shape variance suggests possible evolutionary origins and may offer insights for understanding congenital facial malformations. Our classification results indicate that a high degree of accuracy is possible with only parts of the face, which may have implications for biometrics applications.

CITATION EXPORT

Harold S. Matthews, Soha Mahdi, Anthony J. Penington et al.. Using data‐driven phenotyping to investigate the impact of sex on 3D human facial surface morphology. Journal of Anatomy. (2023). https://doi.org/10.1111/joa.13866

AUTHORS

9 · 10 CENTRES

Harold S. Matthews, Soha Mahdi, Anthony J. Penington, Mary L. Marazita, John R. Shaffer, Susan Walsh, Mark D. Shriver, Peter Claes, Seth M. Weinberg

1 Department of Human Genetics KU Leuven 3000 Leuven Belgium
2 Medical Imaging Research Center UZ Leuven Herestraat 49 3000 Leuven Belgium
3 Facial Sciences Research Group Murdoch Children's Research Institute Parkville 3052 Australia
4 Department of Plastic and Maxillofacial Surgery Royal Children's Hospital Melbourne 3052 Australia
5 Department of Pediatrics University of Melbourne Melbourne 3052 Australia
6 Center for Craniofacial and Dental Genetics, Department of Oral and Craniofacial Sciences University of Pittsburgh Pittsburgh Pennsylvania 15219 USA
7 Department of Human Genetics University of Pittsburgh Pittsburgh Pennsylvania 15261 USA
8 Department of Biology Indiana University Purdue University Indianapolis Indianapolis Indiana 46202 USA
9 Department of Anthropology Pennsylvania State University State College Pennsylvania 16802 USA
10 Department of Electrical Engineering, ESAT/PSI KU Leuven 3000 Leuven Belgium