The Ideal Proportion of the Auricle Exposure via a Morphometric Analysis in Asian Women

Aesthetic Plast Surg. 2024 Apr 2. doi: 10.1007/s00266-024-03989-0. Online ahead of print.

Abstract

Background: Ears are an important aesthetic feature that is vital to the overall attractiveness of the face. Although there have been many studies on the aesthetics of the auricle, there is currently a lack of consensus on the ideal proportion of auricle exposure for Asian women in frontal view.

Objectives: This study aimed to investigate ideal proportion of auricle exposure in Asian women.

Methods: An observational study was carried out on the photographs of 84 women on the list of the 100 most beautiful faces in Asia (published by TCC Asia in 2020). The proportion of the distance between the outer canthus and the outermost point of auricle to the distance between the inner canthus and the outermost point of auricle was calculated as the auricle exposure proportion. Evaluators were asked to rank a set of photographs of the volunteer with varying auricle exposure proportions from most attractive to least attractive.

Results: Measurements of the photographs of the 84 women showed a mean ear exposure proportion of 0.600. With 487 questionnaire responses received, the proportion of auricle exposure that the evaluators considered most attractive was 0.600. People with aesthetic experience considered 0.625 the most attractive proportion, while the general group considered 0.600 the most attractive.

Conclusions: The ideal proportion of the auricle exposure for Asian women is in the range of 0.60-0.625, which may help surgeons reconstruct aesthetically pleasing ears.

Level of evidence v: This journal requires that authors assign a level of evidence to each article. For a full description of these Evidence-Based Medicine ratings, please refer to the Table of Contents or the online Instructions to Authors www.springer.com/00266 .

Keywords: Auricular; Facial beauty; Lying ear.