8 Facial Features That Contribute to a Balanced Appearance
Our brains feel rewarded when we look at someone who has a balanced face. But what is it that makes a face appear harmonious?
Different facial cosmetic features can contribute to a balanced appearance when they come together. Big, alert eyes, a small, proportional nose, defined cheeks, a well-defined jawline, and full lips usually grab people’s attention.
Dr Michael Kernohan offers his patients a full spectrum of surgical and non-surgical facial cosmetic procedures to help achieve their desired results.
Facial Symmetry and Proportion
Wide eyes, full cheeks, and a defined nose are all typical features of a balanced face. However, facial balance is more than the sum of these parts. It’s about how all your facial features come together. How your eyes, nose, mouth, cheeks, and jaw look relative to each other. It’s all about proportions and symmetry.
Many plastic surgeons refer to this facial balance ratio as the “golden ratio.” The golden ratio is, of course, just a figure of speech. An experienced facial plastic surgeon can adapt this golden ratio of facial balance to fit individual patient needs.
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What Are Facial Features That Contribute to a Balanced Appearance?
When you first look at a person’s face you might find it aesthetically pleasing without knowing what it is exactly about it that’s so appealing. There’s something about their face that looks balanced and harmonious.
At a closer look, you’ll notice there are specific facial features that contribute to this balance.
1. A smooth forehead
A wrinkle-free forehead is one of the features that make the face look composed. When the forehead is smooth, your face seems calm and peaceful which most people find appealing.
You can carry a lot of your worry and stress on your forehead and it shows up as forehead wrinkles. A wrinkled forehead makes it look like you’re stressed out or living an unhealthy lifestyle even if you’re not. This can make your face look tired, angry, or less appealing to others.
Also, a lot of your facial expressions (surprise, concern, shock) show on your forehead. Wrinkles on the forehead become even deeper when you make a facial expression and they can make your expressions come across as exaggerated and unnatural.
Dr Kernohan offers his patients surgical and non-surgical solutions to alleviate the lines on the forehead including:
- Cosmetic aesthetic treatments may involve options designed to address specific concerns. For instance, volumising treatments can be used to add fullness in certain areas, while wrinkle treatments may help reduce the appearance of worry lines on the forehead or fine lines between the brows. These treatments provide temporary outcomes and typically require ongoing sessions to maintain the desired effect. Always seek guidance from a qualified healthcare professional to determine the most appropriate approach for your individual needs.
- Upper facelift (brow lift): this cosmetic surgery is done to reduce forehead wrinkles for a longer period of time. A forehead lift tightens the forehead, flattens its wrinkled skin, and removes forehead skin folds. You can also get a full facelift if you want a more comprehensive alteration to your face, not just your forehead.
2. Alert eyes
Your eyes can be the first thing people notice in your face. Symmetric and alert eyes are an important cosmetic feature of a balanced face.
And when you’re having a conversation or giving a presentation, making eye contact is very important to hold someone’s attention. Having alert and wide-looking eyes makes you look more engaging and energetic which makes your entire face look more charismatic.
As you age, your eyebrows and eyelids start to drop which can affect their appearance in the following ways:
- Descending eyelids and puffy eyes can make you look tired and sleepy, and make your eyes look uneven. As a result, your face can look more exhausted.
- Ptotic, heavy eyelids can also interfere with your eyesight which can force to to squint in order to see better. This makes your eyes look smaller and deepens the wrinkles around your eyes.
That’s why eyelid surgery, or blepharoplasty, is very popular. By removing excess skin, muscle, and fat around your eyes, a blepharoplasty gives you wider, bigger, and brighter eyes. Consequently, your face looks well-rested, and more energetic.
3. Symmetric nose
Your nose is the centre of attention on your face. A symmetric and proportional nose brings your other facial features into balance. A straight and refined nose can also balance out the rest of your face while you’re smiling.
On the other hand, your face can negatively impact the face if your nose is perceived as too big, too small, too wide, or asymmetric since:
- A misshapen nose takes away the attention from the other features such as your eyes, lips, and cheeks.
- If the nose is perceived as too big or too wide, the eyes and lips will appear small in comparison.
- A crooked nose can also make the rest of your face appear uneven.
- Whilst, flared nostrils can give the impression that you’re angry or displeased with something.
Nose reshaping surgery, known as Rhinoplasty, can alter the nose’s appearance and bring out the balance in your face. There are different types of nose surgery:
- Rhinoplasty: Nose Reshaping surgery
- Septoplasty: Alleviate a deviated septum and straighten a crooked nose
- Alarplasty: Alter the nostrils, make them smaller and narrower
- Tip plasty: Alter the shape of the nose tip
- Nose bridge reduction: Remove bone and cartilage from the nasal bridge to make the nose smaller
Dr Kernohan has extensive experience in performing nose surgeries and tailors each procedure to the patient’s specific needs and desires.
4. Defined cheeks
When people think you look aesthetically pleasing, they’ll often tell you that you’re looking cheerful. Having defined cheeks creates a lively and high-spirited face and can be considered an important cosmetic feature.
Your cheeks play a central role in how your face looks to others.
As you get older, your face skin loses its elasticity and starts to descend and wrinkle. The signs of facial ageing can be especially visible in your cheeks. Heavy and ptotic cheeks can add years to your face and lead to a tired appearance.
Fortunately, there are several ways to alter the appearance of the cheeks and increase their volume;
- Mid facelift: lifts the cheeks into a higher position. If you have other descending facial features, a full facelift may be a more comprehensive option.
- Cheek implants: implants are placed inside the cheeks to give them more volume.
- Facial Fat grafting: fat is taken from other areas of the body(donor site) and injected into the cheeks.
- Volumising Treatment: if you want to avoid surgery, volumising treatments may be a suitable option. Nonetheless, volumising treatments don’t have permanent results and you’ll likely need to repeat treatment to maintain results.
In contrast, if the cheeks are too full, Buccal fat pad removal surgery can remove some of the fat to reduce volume.
CLICK to Download Dr Michael Kernohan Facelift Surgery Guide
5. Well defined Jawline
Your jaw outlines and contours your whole face. A well-defined jawline gives your face a strong and prominent look – one of the top sought after features of facial balance.
Excess, loose jaw skin fade out the appealing angle created between the neck and the chin making the face look weak or underdefined.
The jaw shouldn’t be too wide or too narrow. A wide jaw can make the face look too big or too round. While a narrow jaw can make the face look too slim or too small.
Dr Kernohan can alter the appearance of jaw and give the face a stronger outline using:
- Lower facelift surgery: Can help emphasis the jawline and increase its contour
- Neck lift surgery: Can help tone the neck and define its outline. This restores the sharp angle between the neck and the face.
- Jaw reshaping surgery (orthognathic surgery): Shaves the jaw bone to sculpt the jawline or reduce the size of the jaw.
- Lower facelift and neck lift surgery can help outline, contour and tighten the appearance of the jaw giving it a stronger, more prominent appearance.
6. Defined Chin
A defined chin is considered an important characteristic of a harmonious, balanced face.
A weak receding chin that projects backward towards the neck disrupts the contour of the face and its aesthetic balance. If the chin is too angular, the face can appear too long and too narrow from the bottom. And if the chin is too round, your face may look too short and too wide from the bottom.
Depending on your standards, you may or may not find cleft chin a characteristic of a balanced face. Either way, if the chin dimple is too deep in the middle, the chin could look like it is split in two. This can disturb your facial proportions, especially in the lower part.
Over the years, Dr Kernohan has worked on several chin augmentation techniques to reshape the chin while achieving aesthetically and functionally appealing results. Chin surgery, also known as genioplasty or mentoplasty, is done to:
- Alter the appearance of the chin, with the use of implants.
- Shave the chin bone and/or remove excess tissue to make the chin smaller.
- Reshape the chin to make it more proportionate with the rest of the face
Dr Kernohan also offers cleft chin surgery to make, remove, or lessen a chin dimple.
7. Proportional Ears
A lot of people don’t notice how important ears are in creating an aesthetically balanced face. They play a key role in defining the face’s limits and proportions.
Overly large ears or ears that stick out can distract from other facial features. Ear surgery (otoplasty) can address these issues by reshaping the ears to better fit the overall facial proportions.
In doing so, Dr Kernohan balances the proportions of the ears with the rest of your facial features.
7. Full lips
Your lips get a lot of attention directed towards your face, especially when you’re talking.
The lips start slowly losing some of their volume with depletion of collagen and elastin or because of smoking and other lifestyle habits. Thin, flat lips can make you look older than you actually are and alter your facial balance.
If the upper lip is too thin, it can disappear completely when you smile. This will make your gums more obvious when you laugh. Moreover, lips that are too narrow or too small can also affect the appearance of the nose, causing it to look too big in comparison or even highlight a protruding chin.
Dr Kernohan offers various surgical and non-surgical procedures to increase lip volume. These procedures include:
- Lip Volumising Treatment: Lip volumising treatments can help add fullness to the lips. These treatments are designed to increase the contours and appearance of the lips and are performed by qualified healthcare professionals.
- Lip flip procedure: A lip flip is a non-surgical procedure designed to adjust the appearance of the upper lip. It involves the use of a product subdermally around the mouth area, encouraging the upper lip to turn outward and achieve a more balanced appearance.
- Lip lift surgery: A lip lift is a surgical procedure intended to reduce the distance between the nose and the top of the lip. This adjustment can result in a more pronounced and defined lip appearance. This procedure is typically performed by a specialist surgeon following a detailed consultation.
Each of these options requires a professional consultation to determine the best approach for your specific goals and needs. Always seek advice from a qualified practitioner before undergoing any treatment.
8. Healthy Skin
The condition of your skin significantly impacts the overall appearance of your face. Clear, healthy skin without blemishes, wrinkles, or uneven pigmentation can help highlight your facial features.
Skin treatments like laser therapy, chemical peels, and skincare routines recommended by dermatologists can help maintain healthy skin.
Further Reading about Facial Surgery to create an Aesthetically appealing Face
- Dr Kernohan’s Facelift Surgery Page
- Dr Kernohan’s Blog about Facial Beauty – What is the Golden Ratio?
- Dr Kernohan’s Blog about Chubby Cheeks – Options for a slimmer face
- Dr Kernohan’s Blog about Recovery after Facelift
- Dr Kernohan’s Blog about Ageing Face
- Dr Kernohan’s Blog about What Makes an Aesthetically Pleasing Jaw Profile?
- Dr Kernohan’s Blog about How to make your Nose Smaller
- Dr Kernohan’s Blog about Broken Nose Surgery – Break Your Nose?
- Dr Kernohan’s Blog about Types of Nose Shapes and Nose Surgeries
