Sex, age and ethnic variability of human oral lips anatomy

Variant anatomy of the lips of the mouth and the diversity of their morphometric characteristics, blood supply characteristics, sexual dimorphism, as well as individual, typological, ethnic and age characteristics play an important role in planning surgical and cosmetic interventions and procedures, providing a personalized approach when choosing treatment tactics. The purpose of this review is to analyze literature sources on morphometric indicators of the size and shape of the lips of a person’s mouth depending on gender, age and ethnicity. Materials and methods of research are information databases, scientific articles, reviews, monographs posted in the public domain and available in the collections of scientific medical libraries using the relevant keywords. As a result of the analysis, it was established that the diversity of ethnic features of facial parameters requires standardization of the typical lip shape characteristic of a certain group of people, taking into account other anatomical parameters. The final facial features of adult men and women develop after puberty. In men, the decrease in the relative height of the red border of the lower lip of the mouth is more pronounced, and the angle of protrusion of the lower lip is much greater. In addition to gender and ethnic variability, changes in the morphological features of the lips are one of the most significant characteristics of facial aging. Volume augmentation procedures are performed more often in younger patients, while contouring procedures are performed more often in older patients. However, plastic surgeons and cosmetologists do not have standards or ranges of “beauty parameters” that are typical for people with different face shapes. It was concluded that the variability of the topographic-anatomical relationships of blood vessels and nerves has not been studied for different types of structure and shape of the lips of the mouth, as well as the correlation of the morphometric parameters of the lips with the characteristics of other anatomical formations of the face. Research in this direction will be important not only in cosmetology, but also for identifying individuals during forensic medical examination.