Nasofrontal Angle: How Forehead and Nasal Root Shape the Profile

The nasofrontal angle describes the transition from forehead to nasal bridge at the nasal root. In a surface photograph, the vertex is the deepest visible root point, often called soft tissue nasion. The result depends on the forehead line and nasal line you choose. A skeletal CT measurement and a photographic tangent measurement can therefore differ substantially on the same general region.

In a true side profile, locate the deepest visible point at the nasal root. Mark the forehead or glabella point and the bridge point required by your chosen method. Draw the two segments and measure the internal angle at the root.

Record whether you used a forehead tangent or a line to glabella, and whether the nasal arm follows the upper dorsum or extends to the tip. Moving the tip endpoint can change the angle even if the upper nasal root is unchanged.

Distinguish soft tissue nasion from the bony landmark at the frontonasal suture. A photograph shows the skin contour; CT can show the bone.

A CT study of 160 native Saudis reported means of 125.3 degrees in men and 135.6 degrees in women. The authors noted that the clinical sample was not a cross-section of the whole Saudi population (PMID 28377544).

An altered-silhouette experiment found a preferred value around 130 degrees for one idealized white male profile. That result concerns observer preferences for a particular construction, not a clinical threshold for every face (PMID 27494590).

Read a smaller or larger value relative to the same landmark method. Comparing numbers from unlike methods can create an apparent difference that is mostly measurement choice.

Paired CT images from 48 Korean adults, separated by an average of 12 years, showed mean nasofrontal-angle increases of 3.2 degrees in men and 2.5 degrees in women, with substantial individual variation (PMID 38062715).

This was an aging study, not a trial of manual traction. It does not tell us that a person can reproduce the change with pressure or exercise.

A 3D surface study of 60 Korean adults reported nasofrontal-angle means of 142 degrees in men and 147 degrees in women. Compare its surface construction and sample before setting those numbers beside CT values (PMID 17561054).

Anthropometry in 69 African-American adults also documented variation in nasal measurements and proportions. A group reference cannot determine the preferred contour of an individual (PMID 7741429).

Include the forehead, nose, lips and chin in a side-profile photograph. Use the visible silhouette, avoid a raised eyebrow and keep the head orientation consistent. A slight turn changes the projected root contour.

Rigidly rotating a flat image does not change an angle between the same points. Changing the three-dimensional head pose or which tangent you mark can change it. Repeat the capture and report the spread instead of excessive decimal precision.

Shastra estimates the visible root and profile geometry. Inspect the marked vertex and nasal arm before interpreting the result.

Read nasion and radix for the anatomy and nasal tip projection for a separate component of nasal shape.

Save the landmark construction with the angle. Published means can supply context when tissue, method and population match; they do not set a universal target.

Compare the supratip contour and the other guides in the measurement directory.