Systematic review on forensic craniofacial reconstruction. I. facial soft-tissue thickness.

Forensic anthropologists are traditionally interested in facial approximations and reconstruction of physiognomies of individuals from past populations and creation of lifelike features onto unknown skulls retrieved from forensic or bioarchaeological contexts. Present review article examines the significance of facial soft-tissue thickness (FSTT) in craniofacial reconstruction by revisiting the studies published in the recent past decade (2010-21). The searches for published articles mentioning the FSTT and related topics over these years were performed using the following search engines: PubMed, ScienceDirect, Web of Science, and Scopus. A total of 325 research articles were identified using different keywords, out of which 84 studies were found relevant for systematic review presented in this article. The selected studies were further analyzed based on the adopted study design, radiographic modality used for estimating FSTT, and generated databases and their advantages and limitations. Out of 84 relevant articles, 30 articles presented databases for sex, age, and ethnicity-dependent variations in soft tissue thickness measurements. Finally, 17 studies reporting sexual dimorphic variations in FSTT values estimated in supine or upright postured individuals (aged 18-90 years and above) were considered for meta-analysis. This article gives a decisive outlook on research trends in FSTT estimations, its contributions in refining craniofacial reconstruction technology, and identifying where we lack and where we can improve.