The role of the golden proportion in the evaluation of facial esthetics

Abstract

ABSTRACT Objective: To demonstrate if one or more golden relationships between different measurements of the human face exist. Materials and Methods: To make our measurements, we used three-dimensional (3D) stereophotogrammetry, which has proved to be the “gold standard” in the field of facial anthropometry. We obtained 3D stereophotogrammetric facial acquisitions of 400 healthy young adult subjects, then had them scored by an Evaluation Jury. Each subject received an esthetic evaluation ranging from 0 to 40. Individuals with a score larger than 28 were considered very attractive (VA), and individuals with a score lower than 12 were considered not attractive (NA). Fifteen subjects per group were chosen by chance, with a final total group of 60 subjects: 15 VA males, 15 NA males, 15 VA females, and 15 NA females. For each subject, a set of facial distances was obtained from the stereophotogrammetric facial reconstruction, and 10 ratios were computed. The effects of sex and attractiveness were tested by analysis of variance. Additionally, Student's t-tests verified if the ratios were statistically different from the golden ratio. Results: For nine ratios, no significant effects of sex or attractiveness were found. Only the eye-mouth distance/height of the mandible ratio was significantly influenced by sex (P  =  .035) and attractiveness (P  =  .032). Seven out of 10 ratios were statistically different from the hypothetical value of 1.618, and only three of them were similar to the golden ratio. Conclusions: Ratios between 3D facial distances were not related to attractiveness. Most of the facial ratios were different from the golden ratio.