Facial index in adult Indian Punjabi males Jat Sikhs and Banias

Face is an entity that allow us to distinguish one person from another. It also permits distinctions between races, ethnic groups, sexes and even members of same family. Human face can be studied by means of natural science or more specifically by biological anthropology, which is scientific study of human biological characters. Many factors are responsible for the variation in the human's face viz hormonal, genetic heritage, sex environment and age.

Aims and objectives

This research was conducted in view of the importance of anthropometric indices of the face in plastic and cosmetic surgery, forensic medicine and other allied clinical sciences.

This cross-sectional study was set up to determine and compare the face shape in Jat Sikhs and Bania males of Indian Punjab origin (300 adult male Jat Sikhs and 300 adult male Banias). The total facial height & breadth of bizygomatic arch were measured and the facial index was calculated. Then these two endogamous groups were compared for these parameters.

The dominant type of face shape in Jat Sikhs males was euryprosopic (39.94%) whereas hypereuryprosopic type of face was in dominance (44.51%) in Bania males.

This study showed that ethnicity can affect the form of face in adult Indian Punjabi male Jat Sikhs and Banias.