gms | German Medical Science

Background: While periorbital and -ocular surgery ranks amongst the most frequently performed plastic surgical procedures, only scarce information exists regarding the contributing factors of ageing and its systematic anatomic assessment.

Objectives: The presented study was thus performed to gather data for an in-depth periorbital analysis based on measuring distinct physical landmark which define female eye attractiveness.

Methods: 80 probands (N=80, age range: 30 to 50 years, M = 38.4±6.5 years) were asked to judge 60 standardized high-resolution digital pictures (n=60) of female eye regions in respect to the perceived age (in years) and attractiveness (7-point-Likert-scale). All photographs were objectively evaluated and measured utilizing a total of 38 distinct landmarks. The data was analyzed by calculating correlations between relevant measured eye area parameters and mean attractiveness ratings respectively mean age judgements

Results: Overall, it was found that several specific eye shape features correlate with attractiveness and perceived age, such as large visible height of the iris and large inclination of both eye axis and eyebrows, which correlated moderately to strongly with attractiveness (p<.005).

Conclusion: The mean features over all eye areas were calculated, likewise the measurements of the 15% most attractive eye areas. Comparing these measurements is an important guideline for pre-op analysis, as on the one hand they describe standard values and otherwise provide measurements for an ideal eye area. Consequences regarding aesthetical interventions are discussed.