The Triangle of Facial Beauty - rather fascinating stuff...

When I was in Sydney recently I spent an afternoon talking with Dr. Michael Miroshnik – plastic surgeon, creator of high performance skincare brand Elixxir and all round really rather knowledgeable guy.
As well as the likes of surgery trends and the real impact a glass or two of pinot has on your skin, we talked about a theory called The Triangle of Facial Beauty, which I found absolutely fascinating. Historically, the classical proportions for beauty of a face follow these rules:
Vertically, you should be able to divide your face into equal thirds i.e. Hairline (Trichion) to Glabella, Glabella to bottom of nose (Subnasale), and bottom of nose to bottom of chin (Menton). Horizontally, you should be able to divide your face into equal fifths i.e. you should be able to place an eye’s length between the eyes and an ‘eye’ on either side of the eyes.
However, when you consider some of the world’s great beauties right now, they fail to confirm to this often-antiquated theory. Victoria’s Secret angel Adriana Lima is a strong case in point: disobeying the rule of vertical thirds, her lower facial third (notice small chin) is smaller than the middle/upper thirds. Aussie babe Miranda Kerr is another outside the norm, with her face disobeying the rule of horizontal fifths. “Notice how far apart the eyes are,” pointed out MM, “they should be an eye distance apart and you should also be able to fit an ‘eye’ distance on either side of the eyes, which you can’t”.
So… do the classical beauty proportion rules really matter?
A recent study attached a camera to a participant’s eye, tracking where they focus their attention when they are first shown a picture of a face. It found a disproportionate amount of time spent looking solely in the eye area and then the centre of the lips (the cupid bow area of the lips). This area describes what can be called the “triangle of beauty”, and if this area looks good/youthful then the person looks good/youthful. “It is way more important than peripheral proportions,” added Michael, “and there is little time is spent looking outside this inner triangle!”
The aforementioned supermodels - although not having perfect proportions - have amazing eyes, nice noses and full lips/smiles, which immediately make them attractive. “And as plastic surgeons we always spend a great deal of time getting the structures within the triangle right,” says the good doctor, “because we know they are the key to youth and beauty.” So next time you obsess about brow lines and the like take time to focus a little further down – great eyes can let you get away with anything!