Sexual Dimorphism of Anthropometric Measurements of Periorbital Soft Tissues in a Sample of Egyptian Adults

The periorbital soft-tissue characteristics provide an immense number of anatomical landmarks which could help in various forensic investigations. This work aimed to assess the forensic value of anthropometric measurements of periorbital soft tissue landmarks in sex discrimination. Two hundred Egyptian healthy young individuals of both sexes were included in the study. Their ages ranged from 18-40 years. The following anthropometric measures were estimated for all participants: inter-inner canthal width (IICD), inter-outer canthal width (IOCD), horizontal palpebral width (HPD), orbital height, upper and lower eyelids heights in addition to some computed orbital indices. A significant difference was found between males and females regarding the IICD, IOCD, HPD, palpebral fissure index and left orbital index. The current observations provide a database for adult periorbital anthropometry in Egyptians. Also, they could aid in personal identification and sex differentiation especially when combined with other facial characteristics. Further anthropometric studies on periorbital soft tissue landmarks are warranted using other modern techniques such as digital photography and software image analysis for documentation of antemortem data which could aid the process of forensic identification in civil and criminal medicolegal investigations.