Determination of Gender Variations Based on Anatomical Shapes of the Orbit on Plain Radiographs of Nigerians: A 5-Year Retrospective Cross-Sectional Study

Introduction: Cephalometry has been widely used in substantial aspects of medicine. There exist obvious differences between male and female bony features from early development to adulthood. The morphometric examination of the orbit and familiarity with its anatomy are important clinically in the diagnosis of orbital lesions and face reconstructive surgery. Diagnostic radiology and ophthalmology have a close relationship. Most prior research assessed orbital dimensions using direct approaches on living, cadaveric, or dry bones.

Aim: To determine the gender variations based on the shapes of the orbit using Plain Radiographs.

Materials and Methods: A 5-year retrospective cross-sectional study using 255 normal skull radiographs obtained from the Department of Diagnostic Radiology of Usmanu Danfodiyo University Teaching Hospital Sokoto from 2004 40 2009 was carried out with male to female ratio of 4:1. The radiographs were mounted on a viewing box, and the orbital shapes were noted.
Results: In the male subjects, the shape of the orbit was oval in 68 (33.0%), quadrangular in 55 (26.7%), and round in 83 (40.3%). In the female subjects, the oval-shaped orbit was found in 27 (55.1%), quadrangular shape in 12 (24.5%), and in round shape 10 (20.4%).

Conclusions: The commonest type of orbit seen in males is the round type, followed by the oval type with the quadrangular being the least type. In females the predominant type of orbit seen was oval, followed by the quadrangular type, with the round type being the least common. However, the differences were not statistically significant. The round type of orbit shows the strongest tendency in sex identification.