The Impact of the Philtrum on Facial Attractiveness, Perioral Proportions, and Perceptions of Facial Aging.

BACKGROUND

Lip enhancement continues to be one of the most popular facial procedures. State-of-the-art lip enhancement involves sculpting of perilabial soft tissue, in particular, the philtrum, but it is unclear how patients perceive their philtral contours.

OBJECTIVES

The aim of this study was to test the impact of the philtrum on attractiveness, and on the perception of facial proportions and age.

METHODS

Respondents (1100, including 50 aesthetic specialists) were presented with 2 sets of identical portraits, 1 set of a young Caucasian female and 1 set of an aged Caucasian female, with 1 portrait in each set having an upper lip lacking any philtral contours. The respondents were asked to choose which upper lip was more attractive, appeared longer, and looked older. Rankings were analyzed according to population demographics.

RESULTS

Overall, most respondents considered the young face (84%) and the aged face (68%) with philtral contours to be more attractive. Moreover, the majority of respondents (81%) considered the upper lip of the young face without a philtrum to appear longer in a craniocaudal orientation (67% for the aged image), and 67% of respondents described the image of the young woman with no philtral definition as appearing older (55% for the aged face with no philtrum).

CONCLUSIONS

This study confirms the authors' hypothesis that the existence of philtral contours exerts a significant impact on perioral attractiveness, and that its absence can be related to a longer appearance of the upper lip as well as an older facial appearance.