The "jaguar's eye" as a new beauty trend? Age-related effects in judging the attractiveness of the oblique eye axis.

BACKGROUND

The eye area plays an important role in the assessment of a person. Although plastic surgery in this area is quite common, only a few studies have evaluated the features that create an attractive eye. This study aimed to determine whether a preference exists for a certain eye axis.

METHODS

The stimulus material comprised portrait images of seven women. Two versions of each face were generated that differed only in the position of the eye axis (normal vs rotated). The eye axis was rotated by raising the lateral canthus of the eye about 5 degrees . A total of 250 experimental subjects ranging in age from 15 to 84 years stated their preferential position of the eye axis (horizontal vs oblique).

RESULTS

Clear evidence showed that age has an impact on the type of eye axis preferred. Young subjects (age, B 19 years) regarded the oblique type of eye axis as more attractive, whereas older subjects (age, C50 years) preferred the eyes more horizontal (p \ 0.001), independently of the interviewees' gender.

CONCLUSION

Because young people judge eye attractiveness differently than older people and because beauty trends are normally determined by young people, a future ideal of beauty could be characterized by eyes with a gently oblique eye axis.