Effect of lip positions on facial profile attractiveness in different Angle's classes of Egyptian males

Objective: The aim of this study was to evaluate Egyptian male profile attractiveness perception among lay females in
different Angle`s classifications with different anteroposterior lip positions. Methods: An 18 years old adult Egyptian male whose Lateral Cephalometric readings all were within the first standard deviation of Alexandria analysis was chosen. His lateral profile images were digitally manipulated to produce 27 pictures representing class I, II and III with different anteroposterior lip and nose relations. The images were rated on a 1-27 point score system by 100 females (15-30 years). Comparison among the different classes was done using analysis of variance (ANOVA) followed by Tukey post hoc test for pair wise comparison. The same tests were used to compare across the different lip/nose positions in each class. The level of significance was set at 5% for all analyses. Results and conclusions: Class III profile was perceived as the most attractive, while class II was the least with class I in between. Generally a preference towards protrusive profiles over retrusive ones was noted in all classes. In class I the nose position had a more effect on profile attractiveness than lip position. In class II there was more tolerance to nose and lip position. Finally class III showed high sensitivity as regards lip position as any lip retrusion was considered highly unattractive.