Magnum Opus
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P.S.: Before any of you go "Wow, BOTB worthy thread!", I know guys, I know. But honestly, Staff members, I don't even require you to put this thread I wrote in BOTB, I'm making the forum a better place JUST FOR FREE, as I believe in doing good for others without expecting anything in return.
What's the upper maxilla?
The upper maxilla is essentially the Le Fort 2 area minus the Le Fort 1 area.
Figure 1: The 3 Le Fort fractures. The upper maxilla is Le Fort 2 minus Le Fort 1.
The upper maxilla includes the inner infraorbital rims, the nasal ridge, the canine fossa area (Figure 2), and most importantly, the nasal aperture.
Figure 2: Canine fossae
This post doesn't go into detail about the canine fossa; just know that it's an important part of the upper maxilla.
What does upper maxillary projection look like?
Upper maxillary projection is characterized by the area from the front of the cheekbone to the back of the nose being a smooth transition when viewed from the side, as seen in Figure 3.
Figure 3: Almost-side-profile view of a White man with upper maxillary projection
The man in Figure 3 has a seamless "blend" between the zygoma and the back of the nose. Contrast that with this other man who has a clearly defined border in the same spot:
Figure 4: Poor upper maxillary projection
The difference is due to the slope of the bone around the nasal aperture. With a forward upper maxilla, the bone on the left and right taper forward and inward toward the nose. With a flat upper maxilla, the bone on both sides of the upper maxilla are parallel.
Figure 5: Caucasoid projected upper maxilla vs. Mongoloid flat upper maxilla
Projected upper maxillas as typically seen in Caucasoids, whereas a flat upper maxilla is a Mongoloid trait.
Another way to look at this is in terms of the position of the nasal aperture, the hole in the skull you breathe through.
Figure 6: Underprojected, normal, and overprojected nasal apertures
Figure 7: The recessed nasal aperture of a Mongoloid and the projected nasal aperture of a Caucasoid
An aesthetic upper maxilla is for the most part a projected nasal aperture.
Here's an East Asian woman who got a nose job as well as some procedure that moved her nasal aperture forward and made the surrounding tissue more slanted forwards toward the center:
Figure 8: Before and after of an East Asian woman who got a more projected nasal aperture, making the surrounding contour slanted forward toward the middle like Caucasians
As you can see, she used to have a clearly defined border between the front of her zygos and the back of her nose, and after surgery it turned into a smooth blended transition, which is ideal.
The difference between a projected upper maxilla and a projected nose
This is a recessed subhuman:
Figure 9: A recessed subhuman
Giving him a forward-protruding Caucasoid nose doesn't result in a good look (Figure 10).
Figure 10: Shit
His nasal aperture and the bone around it needs to get pulled forward, like this:
Figure 11: Better
I deliberately kept his nose flat in order to show how a projected upper maxilla with a flat nose mogs a recessed upper maxilla with a projecting nose.
The final nail in the coffin for Mew Indicator Line copers
@
https://looksmax.org/threads/how-to-measure-a-recessed-maxilla.122146/post-2598129
Unfortunately, it hasn't gotten many views because it's the 60th reply to a thread that claims the Mew Indicator Line is a "great tool." At the time of writing, that thread is in the "Best of the Best" subforum. I think it has merit, but it should be removed from BotB for the Mew Indicator Line's flaws.
What flaws? Well first of all, the Mew Indicator Line (MIL) does a poor job at measuring forward growth. If you think about it, drawing a line from the incisors to the nose tip measures the projection of the lower maxilla relative to the upper maxilla—though inaccurately because nose size affects the measurement.
A short MIL indicates a more projected lower maxilla compared to the upper, and a long MIL indicates the opposite. Because of the relative nature of the MIL, a more recessed upper maxilla actually causes a shorter and more ideal MIL, which doesn't make sense (Figure 12).
Figure 12: The more recessed a person's upper maxilla, the better the Mew Indicator Line.
As previously mentioned, MIL is affected by nose size, and this makes it an utterly dog shit method of measuring the degree of maxillary projection. If it weren't affected by nose size, it'd serve as a useful tool for measuring the upper/lower projection balance: the projection of the lower maxilla relative to the upper. But it's useless for measuring that too since it's affected by nose size. Methods such as the maxillary triangle (Figure 13) are superior.
Figure 13: The Maxillary Triangle: a better method of measuring maxillary projection than the Mew Indicator Line.
What's the key takeaway?
Upper maxillary projection is pretty much nasal aperture projection. And nasal aperture projection is the most important thing for getting that "forward-grown look." Flawed methods like the Mew Indicator Line are bad for measuring upper maxillary projection.
@thecel @mrriceguy @Akhi @StrangerDanger @BrahminBoss @Makhachev @TRUE_CEL
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