Anthropometric and aesthetic analysis of the Indian American woman's face

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Summary

Background

This is the first study defining the facial anthropometric and aesthetic measurements in Indian American women (IAW).

Methods

This is a prospective cohort study involving evaluation of facial photographs. Frontal, lateral and basal photographs were taken of IAW (n = 102), and 30 anthropometric measurements were determined. Proportions were compared with published North American white women (NAWW) norms. Judges (n = 6) evaluated the photographs for aesthetics using a visual analogue scale. Attractive IAW (top 15%) were compared with average IAW (remaining 85%) and average NAWW. All completed a facial self-esteem survey.

Results

There were significant differences between IAW and NAWW in 25 of 30 facial measurements. Six measurements correlated with aesthetic scores: intercanthal distance, mouth width, nasolabial angle, midface height 2, ear length and nasal height. Attractive IAW had nine measurements approximating NAWW features, 15 measurements similar to average IAW values and two measurements distinct from both average IAW and average NAWW. Attractive IAW had higher facial self-esteem scores than average IAW.

Conclusions

Facial measurements in IAW are much different from NAWW, and these results will assist in preoperative planning. Several features are correlated with attractiveness in IAW: larger and wider-set eyes, a smaller midface, a smaller nose with greater tip rotation, smaller ears and a larger mouth. Attractive IAW display many measurements typical of average IAW and several measurements that reflect average NAWW values. These results contribute to concepts of transcultural aesthetics – for a minority ethnic group, facial beauty appears to be an assimilation of deep-rooted ethnic features with prevailing cultural traits and aesthetic standards.

Section snippets

Methods

This was a prospective cohort study of 102 IAW. Participants were aged 18–30 years with both parents of Indian descent. Subjects were excluded if they had a history of facial trauma or surgery. Digital photographs (Nikon 8700, Nikon Corp, Tokyo, Japan) were acquired in frontal, lateral and basal views. A metric ruler was included in each image for calibration of measurements. All subjects filled out a self-esteem survey. For each of 32 facial features, a score from 1 to 5 indicated the degree

Results

Anthropometric facial measurements for IAW and norms for NAWW were compared (Table 1). Significant differences were found in 25 of 30 measurements. With respect to the five canons, all facial proportions were statistically different between IAW and NAWW (Table 2). In the aesthetic analysis, the mean score for all subjects was 5.5 (range: 1–10). Bivariate analysis revealed six measurements that correlated with higher aesthetic scores: shorter midface height 2, larger intercanthal distance,

Discussion

The concept of facial attractiveness is a complex assimilation of innate perceptions and cultural stereotypes.12 In multiple cultures, young children gaze longer at attractive faces, suggesting that some perceptions of attractiveness are genetic in origin and are cross-cultural.13 Darwin noted that responses to facial expressions are instinctive, as he wrote that grief is interpreted by ‘Europeans in exactly the same way as… the Aboriginal hill tribes of India.’14 Others have discovered the

Conflict of interest, funding and ethical approval statement

There are no conflicts of interest to disclose. There are no personal relationships of any author with any organisation. No one has any financial interest in this publication, and there has been no funding for this study. This study was given ethical approval by the Institutional Review Board of the University of California, Irvine.

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