The Rules of Attractiveness: A Study on the Lower Facial Third

Abstract What is considered attractive may not fall into the “norm,” and it can vary from culture to culture and depending on the historical time, for this reason the standard cephalometric and antropometric references may not be sufficient in these cases. Lately some techniques have arose to popularity that are aimed to changing the frontal and lateral aspect of the facial lower third, such as V-line or the Chin-Wing Osteotomy technique, but no reference system exists at the moment to define to which extent a modification of the lower third falls within what is considered beautiful, and everything is left to the patient's will or to the surgeon's sensitivity. The aim of this article is to study which antropometric value is considered attractive by the most for what concerns the frontal shape of the lower third of the face. Twenty-four female models were enrolled in this study and the angle taken into consideration was the one at the intersection between the 2 lines connecting the cutaneous gonial angle of each side of the face and the most external part of the chin on the same side. Measures were made on pictures in frontal view. Two hundred two random examiners were asked to see the pictures and rate them as attractive or nonattractive. Results were then paired with the angles values. Among the models the higher angle measured was 107.5° (found in 1 individual) while the lower angle was 76° (found in 1 individual), the average measure calculated was 88.3° while the median angle was 89.5°. According to the result the subjects considered more attractive were those with an angle between 84.5 and 91.5 (92 for male examiners). This could be an important starting point for studies who can evaluate attractiveness from a numerical point of view.