The Perfect Face, part 2

Last week, we started our series on the pursuit for the “perfect face” and discussed symmetry.  This week, we will focus on facial proportions and what people consider to be ideal.

So how do we do this? Obviously, attempting to determine an ideal shape and size for the amazingly complex structure of the face is a loaded topic. We are trying to take something that, in my opinion, is truly artistic and abstract, and quantify it into something that can be measured. At least one doctor, however, has attempted to take on this very subject.

Dr. Julian De Silva at the Centre for Advanced Facial Cosmetic & Plastic Surgery in London designed a study that made an attempt to describe the perfect face. For this study, he used the number Phi.

The number Phi (Φ) equals 1.618 and is considered the “Golden Ratio.”  This number was first defined by Euclid in around 300 BC, but it’s origins can be documented as far back as around 450 BC. The Golden Ratio has been observed in nature, including plants, insects, humans, and even the human heartbeat. Many mathematicians consider it to be the “secret of beauty.”  Finding the Golden Ratio in nature made it possible to believe that a single number could help explain the beauty found in our natural environment.

Taking this concept, Dr. De Silva, created a computerized facial mapping program to create facial proportions based on the Golden Ratio.  He then applied the program to famous celebrity faces to find the best examples of “the perfect face” based on his calculations.  After searching across Hollywood to find the face that most closely fits the ideal proportions of the Golden Ratio, the winner is:

Amber Heard

Amber’s face matched the ideal proportions at 91.8%.  So if you agree with Dr. DeSilva’s methodology to map the perfect face, Amber’s is the closest real-life example (at least in terms of celebrities’ faces). Still, 91.8% leaves some room for improvement when it comes to perfection (no offense to Ms. Heard).

To take it one step further, Dr. DeSilva then created ideal proportions of specific facial features with his computer mapping program. Again, he compared his maps to faces of celebrities. For those with the ideal features, results are in:

Best Eyes – Scarlett Johansson (95.9%)

Best Nose – Amber Heard (99.7%)

Best Lips – Emily Ratajkowski (96.7%)

Best Forehead – Kate Moss (98.8)

Best Eyebrows – Kim Kardashian (94.8%)

Best Chin – Amber Heard (99.6%)

Best Facial Shape – Rhianna (91%)

Now, if we take each of those facial features from each of those celebrities, combine them, and create a new “ideal” face, we end up with:

Looks weird, creepy, crazy…right?  So why, if we take all of the ideal features and put them together, do we not get an ideal face?  Why is Amber’s face so obviously more beautiful than the one above?

Breaking down the face into individual parts without considering the face as a whole can be difficult and misleading. The nose that looks beautiful on you will most likely not work for the next person. In that sense we need to consider the harmony of the face.  Harmony means that there is a balance between each individual part that creates an overall facial type and individual, unique face. This also is an argument against the Golden Ratio as an accurate measurement of beauty.  It does not take different facial types and harmony into account.

But perhaps beauty cannot truly be measured.  Perhaps there is no such thing as ideal proportions for the human face.  Different proportions work for different types of faces, and that complex topic alone makes the task of quantifying beauty seemingly impossible.  This is a debate that has existed since the beginning of time and will continue on for eternity.

To read more about Dr. De Silva and his studies, you can see him here: http://www.londonfacialplasticsurgery.co.uk/

I will finish this blog with a great quote from Tina Fey:

 “Now every girl is expected to have Caucasian blue eyes, full Spanish lips, a classic button nose, hairless Asian skin with a California tan, a Jamaican dance hall ass, long Swedish legs, small Japanese feet, the abs of a lesbian gym owner, the hips of a nine-year-old boy, the arms of Michelle Obama, and doll tits. The person closest to actually achieving this look is Kim Kardashian, who, as we know, was made by Russian scientists to sabotage our athletes.”

In our next segment, we will expand on this topic and discuss the most requested celebrity facial features by patients to their surgeons.

Here’s to the beautiful human face,

-Dr. Yamamoto