The difference in the location of the malar summit between genders in Southeast Asians with appropriate references

BACKGROUND: Facial feminization surgery and malarplasty require information concerning facial features in the malar area. Such information varies as a function of sex and race. The objectives of this study aimed to quantitatively evaluate the location of malar prominence across sexes in the Southeast Asian population, and identify sex-specific differences in malar prominence using a combination of two-dimensional (2D) computed tomography (CT) and three-dimensional (3D) CT. METHODS: The location of malar prominence was evaluated in 101 Thai adults, consisting of 52 men and 49 women. This study used both 2D CT and 3D CT to achieve greater accuracy, in which 2D CT was used to measure malar distance, malar summit width, facial width, and malar summit-to-facial width ratio whereas 3D CT was used to evaluate the positional relationship between the zygomatic summit and four reference points of the zygoma. RESULTS: The malar summit was positioned more laterally in males (p<0.01) and was more projected in females (p=0.01). The other 2D-parameters were wider in males. The ratio between the malar summit width and facial width showed similar results for both sexes. The vertical dimension did not show any statistically significant differences; however, a higher summit position was observed in males. CONCLUSION: The zygomatic summit is positioned more laterally in males and is more projected in females. However, the ratio was similar, which indicates that the male cranium is larger in size. Based on the results in this study, when facial feminization surgery or malarplasty is performed on a Southeast Asian patient, the malar bone should be reduced horizontally and moved forward for better outcomes.