NCJ Number
226547
Journal
Journal of Forensic Sciences Volume: 54 Issue: 2 Dated: March 2009 Pages: 267-269
Date Published
March 2009
Length
3 pages
Annotation
This study re-examined the position of the human eyeball with respect to the orbital roof and lateral orbital wall in nine new cadavers, (previous study n=4) in order to clarify the different conclusions from earlier studies, with a series of studies concluding that human eyeballs are located closer to the orbital roof and lateral orbital wall, in contrast to the facial-approximation literature, which places the eyeball in the center of the orbit.
Abstract
The eyeball positions were generally found to be closer to the orbital roof and lateral orbital wall, following trends reported by Stephan and Davidson, Whitnall, Wolf, and Goldnamer. Only 2 of the 13 cadavers (15 percent) showed anatomies that approximated the central position guidelines used in craniofacial identification. The consistently more superior and lateral placement of the eyeball provides strong support for the generalization of this relationship to at least Caucasoid samples and probably to larger populations. Thus, the rule that requires the central positioning of the eyeball in craniofacial identification practice should be abandoned in favor of more superior and lateral placement. The high similarity of eyeball projection results between cadavers and living persons indicates that tissue swelling was not a concern in this study. Nine new cadavers were dissected in this investigation, including six males and three females with a mean age of 81 years. The cadavers were embalmed by the administration of 18-20 L of preservation fluid via the femoral artery. The dissection procedures were identical to those used by Stephan and Davidson. Detailed descriptions of materials and methods are provided. 1 table, 3 figures, and 19 references