Facial Attractiveness Assessment Using Illustrated Questionnairers

Abstract

Introduction.An attractive facial appearance is considered nowadays to be a decisive factor in establishing successful interactions between humans. In relation to this topic, scientific literature states that some of the facial features have more impact then others, and important authors revealed that certain proportions between different anthropometrical landmarks are mandatory for an attractive facial appearance.Aim.Our study aims to assess if certain facial features count differently in people’s opinion while assessing facial attractiveness in correlation with factors such as age, gender, specific training and culture.Material and methods.A 5-item multiple choice illustrated questionnaire was presented to 236 dental students. The Photoshop CS3 software was used in order to obtain the sets of images for the illustrated questions. The original image was handpicked from the internet by a panel of young dentists from a series of 15 pictures of people considered to have attractive faces. For each of the questions, the images presented were simulating deviations from the ideally symmetric and proportionate face. The sets of images consisted in multiple variations of deviations mixed with the original photo. Junior and sophomore year students from our dental medical school, having different nationalities were required to participate in our questionnaire. Simple descriptive statistics were used to interpret the data.Results.Assessing the results obtained from the questionnaire it was observed that a majority of students considered as unattractive the overdevelopment of the lower third, while the initial image with perfect symmetry and proportion was considered as the most attractive by only 38.9% of the subjects. Likewise, regarding the symmetry 36.86% considered unattractive the canting of the inter-commissural line. The interviewed subjects considered that for a face to be attractive it needs to have harmonious proportions between the different facial elements.Conclusions.Considering an evaluation of facial attractiveness it is important to keep in mind that such assessment is subjective and influenced by multiple factors, among which the most important are cultural background and specific training.

Impact of face proportions on face attractiveness

“…Facial symmetry increases facial attractiveness while asymmetry impacts negatively on facial esthetics . However, this issue was not the focus of our study.…”

Assessment of facial harmony among Caucasian Spaniards 18 to 60 years of age and its relationship with the golden ratio

“…Soler (2012) (27) found out that among Spaniards, a certain degree of asymmetry with a right side prominence was considered as attractive among men. Similarly, Swaddie (1995) (36) states that symmetry is not always a synonym for beauty.…”

“…Mesaros (2015) (36), evaluating attractiveness using a questionnaire with images found it more attractive when the top third is dominant and less attractive when the bottom third is dominant. This goes in hand with the inverse correlation between beauty perception and the desire to be operated (question 33).…”

The Perception of Ideal Facial Aesthetics Among Middle Eastern University Dental Students

“…[4,7,9] De ning an ideal face to be considered most aesthetic in a given population depends on the analysis and interpretation of aesthetic components of various facial subunits, which include: facial height, width, nose shape, pro le, lips and mouth, and skeletal framework affecting jaw angle, chin and malar area. [2,7,[9][10][11] The lips are particularly one of the most signi cant parts of the face because of its centered position that attracts the attention. [2] Their shape and de nition affects the overall youth and attractiveness of the face.…”