The facial implantation of the osseous nasal pyramid corresponds to the piriform aperture, the shape of which is projected on the facial skin in the form of bracket-shaped parentheses. The objective of this study was to compare inter-parenthesis width with subjective visibility on frontal photographs.

The “patient” group came from a retrospective cohort of photographs taken ahead of septorhinoplasty. The “model” group photographs were collected from the Web or magazines. Nasal parentheses were first judged subjectively as frank or faint. Then, independently, parenthesis width was measured by computer in pixels and converted into millimeters by iris-dependent calibration. Inter-parenthesis width was compared statistically with the frank/faint assessment, according to gender and group.

A total of 113 photographs were included: 46 patients (19 women, 27 men) and 67 models (43 women, 24 men). Sixty-seven of the 113 nasal parentheses appeared frank (59.3%), more frequently in men than women (70.6% vs 50.0%, P=0.02) and in patients than models (69.6% vs 52.2%, P=0.06). Inter-parenthesis width was significantly greater in frank than faint presentations (34.9±3.5mm vs 30.7±3.4mm, P<0.0001), in men than women (35.2±4.1mm vs 31.5±3.1mm, P<0.0001), and in patients than models (34.9±4.0mm vs 32.0±3.6mm, P<0.0001).

Frank nasal parentheses correspond to wider facial implantation of the nose.