Anthropometry and Current Aesthetic Concept of the Lower Third of the Face and Lips in Caucasian Adult Population: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Background The lack of standardization of the norms and aesthetic concept of the lower third of the face and lips creates challenges in reconstructive surgery and aesthetic procedures. A large-scale, anthropometric measurements summary poses an alternative for establishing universal patterns. Methods A systematic review was conducted by searching PubMed, Embase, Google Scholar and Web of Science using keywords: lip, face, aesthetics, beauty, anthropometry and Caucasian. Seventy records were included in the review and checked in detail in terms of available data. Results The study contains a meta-analysis of twelve parameters with sufficient quantitative data—lip width, nose width, facial width, lower third of the face height, midline mandible height, total height of the upper and lower lip, upper and lower vermilion height, cutaneous upper lip height and nasolabial and mentolabial angle. Conclusions The review provides a detailed database of primary anthropometric studies of lips and perioral regions of the healthy Caucasian population. The attractiveness of the region is focused on uniformity of proportions. Notably, results acquired with different methods of measurement are not interchangeable. Despite many published anthropometric studies, systems for conducting the measurements and reporting the results are not sufficiently unified to quantitatively assess meticulous key aesthetic clinical parameters. Level of Evidence I This journal requires that authors assign a level of evidence to each article. For a full description of these Evidence-Based Medicine Ratings, please refer to Table of Contents or online Instructions to Authors www.springer.com/00266 .