THE GOLDEN RATIO OF A BEAUTIFUL FACE
“Wherever there is number, there is beauty.” – Proclus, Greek philosopher
What makes a face beautiful? Perfect skin, Big eyes, A large smile? All these play a role, but in the medical aesthetics industry, the answer is a mathematical ratio dating back 2,500 years.
Some 2,500 years ago, in Ancient Greece, it was discovered that when a line is divided into two parts in a ratio of 1: 1.618, it creates an appealing proportion. This ratio is known as the golden ratio, the divine proportion or phi (named after Phidias, a Greek sculptor and mathematician who used this ratio when designing sculptures).
Since the Renaissance period, artists like Botticelli and Leonardo Da Vinci have used the golden ration in the sketching of their paintings, such as Monalisa or Birth of Venus. During modern times, the golden ratio has been applied to facial beauty and adopted as a guideline for aesthetic treatments.
We may be unaware of it but we subconsciously judge beauty by facial symmetry and proportion. Cross-cultural research has shown that no matter the ethnicity, our perception of beauty is based on the ratio proportions of 1.618. As the face comes closer to this ratio, it is perceived as more beautiful. As an example, the ideal ratio of the top of the head to the chin versus the width of the head should be 1.618.
This ratio is used to mark out the ideal proportions on a patient’s face and aesthetic enhancements that ignore phi may make patients look worse.
How do we use the golden ratio to measure the ideal facial proportions?
- the distance from the top of the nose to the centre of the lips should be 1.618 times the distance from the centre of the lips to the chin
- the hairline to the upper eyelid should be 1.618 times the length of the top of the upper eyebrow to the lower eyelid.
- the ideal ratio of upper to lower lip volume is 1:1.6 (the lower lip should have slightly more volume than the upper lip)
Scientists have found that certain facial measurements, such as the distance between the mouth and nose, and the width of the mouth and nose tend to expand with age. This means that with age, even faces that were previously considered symmetrical tend to deviate from the golden ratio. In addition, with age, fat around the eyes, cheekbones, the inner jawline and sides of the face disappears allowing our face to lose volume, leaving patients with a hollowed, sunken appearance.
The above suggests that allowing aestheticians to restore your proportions closer to your youthful ideal improves your attractiveness and rejuvenates older features.
At Hamilton Skin Clinic we use approved dermal volumisers and botulinum toxin such as Wrinkle Relaxer to enhance and rejuvenate facial proportions: Cosmetic Nurse Jo will use these findings to assess your facial features when you’re in the clinic.
- If your face is long and narrow, Cosmetic Nurse Jo uses volumisers to enhance the width of the cheekbones or if the lower face is too short, she can enhance the jawline and even extend and add symmetry to the chin using volumisers.
- If the temple area is sunken, Nurse Jo uses dermal volumisers to restore the volume and add proportion to the eye area.
- If a too-high forehead is an issue, she can inject botulinum toxin to raise the eyebrows.
- A lip volumiser treatment can reduce your lower facial height.
Nature does not always follow the rules of beauty and the need for an artistic eye is mandatory to give patients a naturally beautiful look rather that completely changing their appearance.
Our first priority is to find out exactly the look our patients want to achieve during an in-depth consultation before the treatment.
Please call Hamilton Skin Clinic with any questions relating to treatment.
