Comparison of aesthetic facial criteria between Caucasian and East Asian female populations: An esthetic surgeon's perspective

Abstract

Objective aesthetic criteria are important for patient evaluation and analysis during aesthetic surgeries, while successful aesthetic surgeries must take into account the underlying ethnic differences. The aim of this study is to help surgeons and scientists better plan facial aesthetic surgeries and understand the aesthetic needs according to different patients by reviewing and comparing the current aesthetic principles and preferences in Caucasian and East Asian populations. PubMed and The Cochrane Library were searched using keywords regarding anthropometric measurements. Only original clinical studies and reviews written in English and Chinese and those that focused on the objective assessment of facial aesthetics in Caucasian and East Asian female populations were retained for review. Reference lists of the selected articles were also reviewed for eligible studies. Sixty-five articles that described objective aesthetic criteria in Caucasian and East Asian female populations were found through PubMed, among which 47 included Caucasian populations and 18 included East Asian populations. Compared with White women, East Asian women prefer a small, delicate, and less robust face, lower position of double eyelid, more obtuse nasofrontal angle, rounder nose tip, smaller tip projection, and slightly more retruded mandibular profile. Various differences exist between objective facial aesthetic criteria in Caucasian and East Asian populations. Further studies that focus on the objective aesthetic criteria of facial attractiveness in different ethnicities need to be conducted, especially in Asian countries. Level V: Opinions of respected authorities, based on clinical experience, descriptive studies, or reports of expert committees.

Comparative split‐face study of durational changes in hyaluronic acid fillers for mid‐face volume augmentation

“…In contrast, the anteromedial cheek, which has lower degrees of movement and adhesion, better enables the assessment of filler maintenance over time (Park et al, ). Accordingly, recommendations regarding cheek filler treatment in Asian patients suggest that products should be injected into the anteromedial cheek to reduce a “flat” frontal appearance (Gao, Niddam, Noel, Hersant, & Meningaud, ), given that Asian faces tend to be broader with well‐developed zygomas than narrower Western faces (Figure ).…”

Differences between Caucasian and Asian attractive faces

“…Actually speaking, conventional cephalometric data cannot reflect different beauty standards according to race, ethnicity, gender, period, or age. 7,13,14 Ideal values suggested by the old cephalometric norm have not changed in many years, and for the present, using these norms alone will produce inconsistencies between the doctors' perspectives and the patients' desires. In my view, cephalometric analysis is rather a uniform measurement method, and the analysis inevitably mutes or excludes individual facial characteristics or beauty preferences.…”

Facial Asymmetry-Based Anthropometric Differences between Gender and Ethnicity

“…This results in larger asymmetric facial measurements for the subjects belonging to African ethnicity. In contrast, Europeans have thinner lips owing to a genetic trait [32]. The collinearity analysis shown in Figure 12a,b suggest that the most significant differences occur for the asymmetric dimensions D17, D18, and D19 ranging from 3.5 mm to 4.25 mm both for MORPH and FERET datasets, owing to wider nose bridge of the Africans compared to the Europeans.…”