I hear the term used almost interchangeably with "good forward growth," but it confuses me. In every photo I've seen depicting the ante face in profile, the defining characteristic seems to be a relatively large distance between the neck and chin, giving that long, horizontal "overhang" that people like Angelina Jolie have.
What confuses me is that I see people with a similar looking amount of forward growth - as measured by things like cheek slope, distance from ear to philtrum etc - and yet they don't have that long overhang under the chin. The distance from neck to chin is much shorter.
The difference as I see it is not necessarily "forward growth," but rather how the head is balanced on the neck. In the ante face, on a profile looking right, the head is positioned to the utmost right of the neck. There isn't much skull to the left of the ear. In other people, the head is positioned further back, with more of the skull sitting behind the ear. Yet both people can seem to have a similar amount of forward facial protection, as measured from a landmark like the ear.
So is ante face really a sign of superior forward growth, or more a visual aesthetic determined by where the skull sits on the neck?
I think it depends on your perspective. What is an anteface anteriorly positioned in relation to, and what part of the face is positioned in such way? As for the matter of visual difference in decently developed faces, here is my explanation: the combination of chin tuck and tongue posture creates two opposing forces that circulate throughout the cranium, the balance of which in a well developed face would, when loosely illustrated, look something like this:
So when proper posture is adapted, the combined effort of these forces will begin to expand and reshape the skull from the base of the cranium (occipitomastoid and lambdoidal sutures), resulting in larger space between the spine/neck and the mandible:
If one lacks space(growth?) in the base of the skull, the spine will be positioned too close to the mandible to allow for that aesthetic look you are referring to, even when the maxilla itself could be viewed as having good positioning in relation to the rest of the face.
Anteface is a meme
I think it depends on your perspective. What is an anteface anteriorly positioned in relation to, and what part of the face is positioned in such way? As for the matter of visual difference in decently developed faces, here is my explanation: the combination of chin tuck and tongue posture creates two opposing forces that circulate throughout the cranium, the balance of which in a well developed face would, when loosely illustrated, look something like this:
So when proper posture is adapted, the combined effort of these forces will begin to expand and reshape the skull from the base of the cranium (occipitomastoid and lambdoidal sutures), resulting in larger space between the spine/neck and the mandible:
If one lacks space(growth?) in the base of the skull, the spine will be positioned too close to the mandible to allow for that aesthetic look you are referring to, even when the maxilla itself could be viewed as having good positioning in relation to the rest of the face.
So I guess forward growth in itself is not enough for a good aesthetic. I've been told I have quite good forward growth, but I most certainly don't have the ante face aesthetic. Not that I would want anything anywhere near some of the ante face women I see - something about it is very feminine. But I would love my mandible to project further from my neck.
Anteface is a meme
I would say it's an aesthetic more than a meme. It's a very definite look which can be identified, and in fact I've always admired people who have it, even back when I was a teenager and I had absolutely no clue about forward growth or jaw aesthetics.
@alphaminus Yeah. I agree that it is a very distinctive and healthy look. Since the general premise put forth by Mew and others is that health, function and aesthetics are all different sides of the same coin, I'm fairly convinced that such look is the result of full cranial development, which is more than just maxillary development. It's essentially sphenoidal development: the skull could be viewed as a balloon that is being blown up by the tongue via the sphenoid. It expands into every direction, allowing the bones and facial features to fall into their proper places.
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