Purpose: To analyze the profile features of soft tissues of beautiful young men and women with Han nationality by polar coordinates.
Methods: Sixty-two beautiful college students (aged 18-23 years, average 20.1 years, 31 men, 31 women) were chosen according to inclusion criteria as study samples. The lateral cephalograms of the samples were taken in natural head position. The polar system was established with the Bolton (Bo) point as the pole, and the Bo-N line as the polar axis. The polar coordinates were measured of the mark points on the soft tissues of the samples' maxillofacial regions respectively. The measured data were statistically analyzed with SPSS 17.0 software package.
Results: There were no significant differences among the polar angles of the marking points on the soft tissues (P>0.05), the results were not statistically significant; there were significant differences among the measured data of line distances (P<0.01); the ratios of the polar radius of each mark point and Bo-N were not significantly different (P>0.05); there were significant differences among the values of Bo-Pos/ Bo-Sn, Bo-LL/Bo-Pos between men and women, which was statistically significant (P<0.05).
Conclusions: Polar coordinates can be applied to cephalometry to accurately and integrally describe maxillofacial profile features. There are minor differences between the profile features of beautiful men and women, and the differences are mainly shown in mandible and the fullness of lips.