Cross-cultural perception of female facial appearance: A multi-ethnic and multi-centre study

Facial Anthropometric Measurements and Principles - Overview and Implications for Aesthetic Treatments

Facial anatomy is highly individual in each patient. Anthropometric measurements can be a useful tool to objectively analyze individual facial anatomy to allow for better comparability before and after treatments to ultimately improve standardization of facial procedures, both nonsurgical and surgical. The aim of this study was to provide a comprehensive overview over clinically relevant and feasible facial anthropometric measurements and principles for aesthetic medicine. A literature review was conducted to describe the most important and clinically relevant anthropometric measurements and principles for both the entire face and for three aesthetically relevant facial regions: the periorbital region, the nose, and the perioral region. A multitude of different anthropometric measurements and principles have been described in the literature for both the overall facial appearance and specific facial regions. Certain generally accepted anthropometric principles and proportions need to be respected to achieve aesthetic and harmonious results. For the overall facial appearance, a focus on symmetry, certain proportions, facial angles, and indices has been described. Principles and measurements were also described for the periorbital region, the nose, and the perioral region. Although attractiveness and aesthetic perception are subjective, objective evaluation of facial surface anatomy via anthropometric measurements can improve pre- and postinterventional analysis of the face and help the treating physician to individualize treatments, both nonsurgical and surgical.

Cross-cultural perception of strength, attractiveness, aggressiveness and helpfulness of Maasai male faces calibrated to handgrip strength

Previous research has demonstrated that Maasai and Europeans tend to align in their ratings of the physical strength and aggressiveness of Maasai male faces, calibrated to hand grip strength (HGS). However, perceptions of attractiveness of these faces differed among populations. In this study, three morphs of young Maasai men created by means of geometric morphometrics, and depicting the average sample and two extrema (± 4 SD of HGS), were assessed by men and women from Tanzania, Czech Republic, Russia, Pakistan, China, and Mexico (total sample = 1540). The aim of this study was to test cross-cultural differences in the perception of young Maasai men's composites calibrated to HGS, focusing on four traits: physical strength, attractiveness, aggressiveness, and helpfulness. Individuals from all six cultures were able to distinguish between low, medium, and high HGS portraits. Across all study populations, portrait of Maasai men with lower HGS was perceived as less attractive, more aggressive, and less helpful. This suggests that people from diverse populations share similar perceptions of physical strength based on facial shape, as well as attribute similar social qualities like aggressiveness and helpfulness to these facial images. Participants from all samples rated the composite image of weak Maasai men as the least attractive.

Facial Beauty and the Correlation of Associated Attributes: An Empirical Aesthetic Database Study

Background

The pursuit of understanding facial beauty has been the subject of scientific interest since time immemorial. How beauty is associated with other perceived attributes that affect human interaction remains elusive. This article aims to explore how facial attractiveness correlates with health, happiness, femininity, and perceived age. We review the existing literature and report an empirical study using expert raters.

Methods

A peer-reviewed database of 2870 aesthetic female faces with a global ethnic distribution was created. Twenty-one raters were asked to score frontal images on the attributes of health, happiness, femininity, perceived age, and attractiveness, on a Likert scale of 0-100.

Results

Pearson correlation coefficients ("r") were calculated to correlate attributes, with multiple regression analyses and P values calculated. Strong positive correlation was found between attractiveness and health (r = 0.61, P < 0.05), attractiveness and femininity (r = 0.7, P < 0.05), and health and femininity (r = 0.57, P < 0.05); medium positive correlation between health and happiness (r = 0.31, P < 0.05); and small positive correlation between happiness and femininity (r = 0.21, P < 0.05). A neutral relationship was observed between perceived age and happiness (0.01, P = 0.75), and medium negative correlation between perceived age and attractiveness (-0.32, P < 0.05), health (-0.36, P < 0.05), and femininity (-0.31, P < 0.05).

Conclusions

Our study illustrates a positive correlation between the positive attributes of health, happiness, femininity and attractiveness, with a negative correlation of all characteristics with increasing perceived age. This provides insight into the complexity of human interaction and provides a holistic view of attraction as being a gateway to the reflexive perception of other attributes. The implications encourage an aesthetic focus on facial reconstruction.

Predictors of female age, health and attractiveness perception from skin feature analysis of digital portraits in five ethnic groups

OBJECTIVE

Research indicates the impact of skin colour, tone evenness and surface topography on ratings of age, health and attractiveness in women. In addition to subjective assessments, these effects have been quantified with objective measures derived from skin image analysis. Signs of skin ageing may manifest differently across ethnic groups. However, comparisons have been limited to research with two ethnic groups, preventing conclusions about an ethnicity-specific ranking of skin ageing signs.

METHODS

We report results from a multi-ethnic and multi-centre study in which faces of women (n = 180; aged 20-69 years) from five ethnic groups were imaged. Facial images were rated for age, health and attractiveness by members of the same ethnic group (each n = 120). Digital image analysis was used to quantify skin colour, gloss, tone evenness and wrinkling/sagging. We assessed associations between face ratings and skin image measurements in the total sample (i.e. all ethnic groups) and separately by ethnicity.

RESULTS

Skin image analysis revealed differences between ethnic groups, including skin colour, gloss, tone evenness, wrinkling and sagging. Differences in the relative predictive utility of individual skin features in accounting for ratings of age, health and attractiveness also were observed between ethnic groups. Facial wrinkling and sagging were the best predictors of face ratings in each ethnic group, with some differences in the type (or predictive magnitude) of skin features.

CONCLUSION

The current findings corroborate previous reports of differences between ethnic groups in female facial skin and indicate differential effects of skin features on ratings of age, health and attractiveness, within and between ethnic groups. Facial wrinkling and sagging were the best predictors of age and attractiveness ratings, and skin tone evenness and gloss had an additional role in ratings of health.

Impact on facial skin aging signs of a 1-year standardized photoprotection over a classical skin care routine in skin phototypes II-VI individuals: A prospective randomized trial

BACKGROUND

Data reflecting the impact of photoprotection on cutaneous aging are scarce and mostly limited to fair skin.

OBJECTIVE

To assess the effectiveness of a photoprotective product in counteracting the photoaging process in different skin phototypes over 1 year compared against a classical routine.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Two hundred and ninety Brazilian women aged 30-65 years, with skin phototype II-VI were equally randomized in two groups. Group 1 kept on their routine whereas Group 2 applied, twice daily, a photoprotective product (SPF 60, PPD = 24.1) replacing the one they routinely used. Volunteers reported the duration of their daily sun-exposure. Standardized photographs taken at D0 and D365 were analysed by 15 dermatologists to assess eight wrinkles and pigmentation signs.

RESULTS

A global increase in severity was reported which was significant for Group 1. This increase was lower in Group 2 where only half the signs showed significant worsening. In Group 2 versus Group 1, the increase in forehead wrinkles, marionette lines, wrinkles created by ptosis and size of dark spot was significantly (p < 0.05) decreased by 30%-50%.

CONCLUSION

Daily application of a high photoprotective product significantly decreases the progression of skin aging signs after 1 year in skin phototypes II-VI.

Congruence in European and Asian perception of Vietnamese facial attractiveness, averageness, symmetry and sexual dimorphism

Attractiveness is a proposed universal cue to overall biological quality. Nonetheless, local raters and raters of the same ethnicity may be more accurate in assessing the cues for attractiveness than distant and unfamiliar raters. Shared ethnicity and shared environment may both affect rating accuracy: our aim was to compare their relative influence. Therefore, we photographed young Vietnamese participants (N = 93, 33 women) from Hanoi, Vietnam. The photographs were rated by Czechs, Asian Vietnamese, and Czech Vietnamese (raters of Vietnamese origin who lived in Czechia for all or most of their life). Using geometric morphometrics, we measured facial shape cues to biological quality: averageness, asymmetry, and sexual dimorphism. We expected that Vietnamese raters residing in Czechia and Vietnam would agree on perceived attractiveness and use shape-related facial cues to biological quality better than Czech European raters, who are less familiar with East Asians. Surprisingly, mixed-effect models and post hoc comparisons identified no major cross-group differences in attributed attractiveness and path analyses revealed that the three groups based their rating on shape-related characteristics in a similar way. However, despite the considerable cross-cultural agreement regarding perceived attractiveness, Czech European raters associated attractiveness with facial shape averageness significantly more than Vietnamese raters.

Using Artificial Intelligence to Quantify Sexual Dimorphism in Aesthetic Faces: Analysis of 100 Facial Points in 42 Caucasian Celebrities

Background

Sexual dimorphism has been studied in the faces of average populations and worldwide celebrities; however, a focused analysis of attractive Caucasian faces has not been conducted.

Objective

The study harnesses the power of artificial intelligence (AI) to efficiently analyze these facial patterns in attractive Caucasian male and female celebrities.

Methods

Twenty-one male and 21 female Caucasian celebrities were selected based on popular editorial rankings, modeling agencies, and casting directors from 2017 to 2022. Frontal photographs of celebrities aged 23 to 42 without facial animation were selected. One hundred facial landmarks were identified using semi-automatic image analysis software consisting of modified Apple Vision (Cupertino, CA) machine-learning algorithms with additional custom landmarks. Measurements were converted to absolute distances by fixing subjects' white-to-white corneal diameters to the validated average in Caucasians.

Results

Attractive females had significantly greater upper and middle facial proportions, more uniformly divided facial thirds, and greater canthal tilt compared with males. Attractive males had significantly greater facial height, bizygomatic and bigonial widths, medial and total brow lengths, and alar width than females. The golden ratio (1.618) was observed in the ratio of facial height to bigonial width in females (1.613), and attractive males closely approximated that ratio (1.566). There were no significant differences in interpupillary distances, eyebrow angles, or horizontal palpebral fissure lengths. No faces in either sex exhibited scleral show.

Conclusions

The study is the first to utilize AI in quantifying key sexual dimorphisms among Caucasian celebrity faces. Identifying these contemporary patterns may provide valuable considerations in planning facial aesthetic and gender affirmation surgery.

Level of Evidence 3

Perception of strength, attractiveness and aggressiveness of Maasai male faces calibrated to handgrip strength: Evidence from a European sample

OBJECTIVES

Previous research showed that male and female members of the Maasai from Northern Tanzania judge images of facial morphs calibrated to greater handgrip strength (HGS) higher on strength and attractiveness, but lower on aggressiveness than those calibrated to lower HGS. The accurate assessment of male physical strength from facial information may be adaptive as suggested by the evidence on health and fitness-related benefits linked to high muscular strength.

METHODS

This study extends previous work by obtaining European female (n = 220) and male (n = 51) assessments of HGS-calibrated Maasai male faces. Participants rated five facial morphs for strength, attractiveness, and aggressiveness on computer screens.

RESULTS

Perceived physical strength increased with morphs calibrated to higher HGS. The lowest and highest HGS morphs were judged lower in attractiveness than the others, and rated aggressiveness decreased in morphs calibrated to higher HGS.

CONCLUSIONS

Given the high similarity between the current study findings and those previously reported from intra-population assessments of Maasai faces calibrated to HGS, we suggest that strength and aggressiveness perceptions of facial features associated with male physical strength may be universal. Attractiveness assessments of strength-related information in the faces of (very) strong men were less consistent across populations, possibly attributable to cultural and ecological contexts.

The impact of priming on dentally induced social judgements: An experimental study

OBJECTIVE

To ascertain the effects of priming to consider tooth appearance (i.e. exposure to a 'tooth whitening television advert') versus control (a 'non-dental' television advert) on social judgements of tooth colour in a group of Caucasians.

METHODS

Two groups of Caucasians randomly assigned to watch either a tooth-whitening advert (experimental, N = 67) or a bread advert (control, N = 62). All rated the measures of social perceptions: friendliness, popularity, social life, success, intelligence, graduation, introversion/extroversion, happiness, self-confidence, attractiveness, age-estimation and satisfaction, after watching either of the adverts and viewing three digitally modified photographs (Darkened, natural and whitened teeth) of different Caucasian adults (males and females) separately.

RESULTS

There were no statistically significant differences for all the measures of social perception between the groups. Nevertheless, the questions that inquired about popularity, friendliness, success, intelligence, happiness, self-confidence, attractiveness and satisfaction were consistently rated higher for all three tooth shades in the experimental than the control groups. Further, within the experimental and control groups, higher ratings were given to the faces with whitened teeth than the natural and darkened teeth.

CONCLUSIONS

Priming has little impact on dentally induced social judgements as this study failed to demonstrate statistically significant differences. Nevertheless, both groups gave the highest subjective ratings for the faces with whitened teeth and the tooth-whitening advert group associated the faces in the photographs with higher subjective ratings than the non-dental advert group irrespective of the tooth shade. One reason for this could be the way media affects the psychological well-being.

CLINICAL SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT

The almost universal exposure to idealised tooth appearance in the media may increase demand for aesthetic treatments. Standardising the colour of the tooth plays a huge impact and making individuals to view a tooth whitening advert just prior to a procedure might influence patient choices.

Quantification of perception towards facial skin ideal complexion in multiple ethnic populations from clinical imaging cues

OBJECTIVE

Ideal complexion is a perceptual skin quality that is strongly influenced by cultural and ethnic background. The objectives of this study are to quantitatively characterize skin ideal complexion based on clinical image cues and to compare the perceptions of ideal complexion among multiple ethnicities.

METHODS

Facial images of Indian, Chinese, Caucasian and Latino females collected using VISIA®-CR were presented to naïve panels of the same ethnicity following a two-alternative forced choice design and responses on skin "ideal complexion" were obtained from 336 panelists. Panel perception was transformed logistically (d') and projected onto a continuum (ω) following Bradley-Terry model. Image cues including skin color and unevenness, skin shine and surface smoothness, and pigmentary blotches and spots were computed using image analysis and their relationship with ω were evaluated through multiple regression analysis. A novel skin index namely ideal complexion score (ICS) was developed and correlated against age using linear regression. Finally, ICS was applied to evaluate treatment efficacy of a skin brightening kit on 35 female Caucasian subjects.

RESULTS

Panel perception d' showed statistically significant (p < 0.05) correlation with the contrast of image cues for all ethnic panels (R² = 0.74, 0.76, 0.62 and 0.46 for Indian, Chinese, Caucasian and Latino respectively) and strong correlations between perception ω and linear combinations of image cues were observed (R² > 0.88 for all). Main effects of facial image visual cues on ideal complexion were compared: contrast of skin redness and pigmented spots and visual smoothness were important in determining ICS for all ethnicities; skin color unevenness was more pronounced for Indian and Caucasian; skin lightness was important for Indian and Chinese; skin shine was critical for Chinese and Latino; and skin hue angle ranked higher for Caucasian. Correlations between ICS and age were observed for Indian and Caucasian (R² = 0.55) in which ICS decreased as age increased. Twenty-nine percent improvement on ICS was observed after 12 weeks' treatment using the brightening kit compared to the baseline.

CONCLUSION

Mathematical models were successfully established to describe subjective perception towards skin ideal complexion based on objectively measured image cues for multiple ethnicities.

Africans and Europeans differ in their facial perception of dominance and sex-typicality: a multidimensional Bayesian approach

Biosocial impact of facial dominance and sex-typicality is well-evidenced in various human groups. It remains unclear, though, whether perceived sex-typicality and dominance can be consistently predicted from sexually dimorphic facial features across populations. Using a combination of multidimensional Bayesian approach and geometric morphometrics, we explored associations between perceived dominance, perceived sex-typicality, measured sexual shape dimorphism, and skin colour in a European and an African population. Unlike previous studies, we investigated the effect of facial variation due to shape separately from variation due to visual cues not related to shape in natural nonmanipulated stimuli. In men, perceived masculinity was associated with perceived dominance in both populations. In European women higher perceived femininity was, surprisingly, likewise positively associated with perceived dominance. Both shape and non-shape components participate in the constitution of facial sex-typicality and dominance. Skin colour predicted perceived sex-typicality in Africans but not in Europeans. Members of each population probably use different cues to assess sex-typicality and dominance. Using our methods, we found no universal sexually dimorphic scale predicting human perception of sex-typicality and dominance. Unidimensional understanding of sex-typicality thus seems problematic and should be applied with cautions when studying perceived sex-typicality and its correlates.

Differences between perceived age and chronological age in women: A multi-ethnic and multi-centre study

Objective

Accuracy in assessing age from facial cues is important in social perception given reports of strong negative correlations between perceived age and assessments of health and attractiveness. In a multi‐ethnic and multi‐centre study, we previously documented similar patterns of female facial age assessments across ethnicities, influenced by gender and ethnicity of assessors.

Methods

Here we extend these findings by examining differences between estimated age from digital portraits and chronological age (Δ age) for 180 women from three age groups (20–34, 35–49, 50–66 years) and five ethnicities (36 images of each ethnicity, assessed for age on a continuous scale by 120 female and male raters of each ethnicity).

Results

Across ethnicities, Δ age was smallest in French assessors and largest in South African assessors. Numerically, French women were judged oldest and Chinese women youngest relative to chronological age. In younger women, Δ age was larger than in middle‐aged and older women. This effect was particularly evident when considering the interaction of women's age with assessor gender and ethnicity, independently and together, on Δ age.

Conclusion

Collectively, our findings suggest that accuracy in assessments of female age from digital portraits depends on the chronological age and ethnicity of the photographed women and the ethnicity and gender of the assessor. We discuss the findings concerning ethnic variation in skin pigmentation and visible signs of ageing and comment on implications for cosmetic science.