Beauty is in the Phi of the Beholder

Posted: November 3, 2014

When it comes to defining beautiful faces, studies show that there is surprising consistency among different cultures, ethnicities, races, ages and genders. Aristotle defined beauty as order, and symmetry. Symmetry is at the core of beautiful faces, along with youthfulness, clarity or smoothness of skin, and averageness of the features.

Since the Renaissance period, artists and scientists have tried to define ideal beauty in mathematical terms. Most recently, aesthetic physicians have joined in this quest to quantify beautiful faces into its different parts. The theory of the golden ratio of Phi shows that there is an ideal relationship of 1.618 to 1 between many different parts of beautiful objects in nature. The golden ratio appears in many works of art including Da Vinci's Last Super, and the Tahj Mahal. In this video of Florence Colgate, Britain's most beautiful face for 2012, the golden ratios appear over twenty times.

During consultations, I take the opportunity to educate my clients on the non-invasive procedures available to manipulate their face mathematically to look more attractive without changing the essence of their face. My most favorite tools are Botox and Fillers. Botox can be used to raise the position of the brows and make the distance between the jaws more narrow. Fillers can be used to increase the volume of the sub-parts of the face.

Let's take one of Florence's Phi measurements - namely the head height to head width. If this ratio falls short of 1.618 to 1, it can easily be manipulated by adding fillers to the chin or the cheeks. My predictions are that even the perfectly ratio'ed Florence will need a little bit of help as father time ages her. So for those of us who are not Phi-Perfect, why not start now to get more mathematically attaractive.