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

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.