what makes “beauty”? facial symmetry is beauty? could you be a model?

Posted on February 8, 2014

What makes someone beautiful?

It is not a new thing to discuss symmetry.  There are many who have discussed how models are chosen frequently because they have a higher degree of symmetry than the average person.  When I do surgery I am trained to look for all the asymmetries. In the real world, most of us are not models.  Most of us are not even– one eyebrow is higher, one cheek hollower, one jawline more defined, one breast larger.  I, as the plastic surgeon, try to fix or minimize these where possible.

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Why are we asymmetric? Ah. There is the topic for many blogs. Some is inherent: different bone structure, different muscle or nerve tone.  Some is likely from activity: you always sleep on one side, or you drive and one side of your face is in the sun.

I saw an article recently where someone did a split face photo and then doubled it to make a face.  It is always interesting to me as a plastic surgeon to see the two faces next to each other: the right face doubled, then the left face doubled.  My interest? To see if the two faces are close to each other.  If they are, then it means the person is naturally symmetrical.  When they vary a lot, then the patient is more asymmetrical.

The recent article though didn’t include the original photo. But it got me thinking I bet someone has done this before.  Walah- I found Julian Wolkenstein’s work.  The photos are a must see. Very interesting. I like this business insider link better as it shows the original photo.

And if you want to try it yourself, I found this site: