What is facial beauty? It's a question that's been asked throughout the ages. On his award-winning website, www.beautyanalysis.com, Dr. Stephen R. Marquardt, Chief of Research in Esthetic Facial Imaging at UCLA, has collected a series of evocative quotes that attempt to define this nearly indefinable term.
As part of his effort to understand and define facial beauty, Marquardt has identified four qualities: color, texture, size and form or shape. The more these qualities evoke a beauty response- attraction,the more beautiful an object, including a face, he concludes.
Any discussion of facial appearance inevitably gives rise to a discussion about passing judgment. We are all aware of the dangers of judging a book by its cover. Each of us has had the experience of being completely surprised about a person's character or personality, because the reality was so different from what we imagined based on looks alone.
Experts tell us that the process of judging a person by their "cover" starts in infancy. Infants are known to gaze longer at faces with smooth skin, large eyes, and full lips. As we age, the tendency becomes even more apparent. Research has shown that classically beautiful people attract better jobs and earn more money than plainer folk.
The reason for this may be that beauty is significantly more universal than we may have once believed. Research findings illustrate the world's people share a surprisingly similar idea of what is beautiful. A formula that reflects those preferences is know as the Golden Proportion, a ratio of 1 to 1.618
In a mathematically beautiful face, the width of one eye is proportional at a 1 to 1.618 ratio to the space between the eyes. These and other measurements of physical characteristics give cosmetic dentists and plastic surgeons a reliable benchmark for planning and imaging. According to Dr. Marquardt, "It's amazing to see just how close to what we consider as esthetic perfection post people actually are. But we do judge the slightest differences as being less and less attractive."
Marquardt's work also illustrates that so many of us who may consider ourselves unattractive are actually quite close to being mathematically attractive! There's a heart, soul and a life's worth of experiences behind that face. And chances are excellent that what lies behind it is positive and good! Find it and embrace it as you make peace with your face and the faces around you.
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