Objective: Clinicians’ and laypeople’s aesthetic perceptions differ significantly. Lay observers’ background, social status and perceptions of beauty can vary; on the other hand, clinicians should also consider patients’ racial and individual characteristics. The present systematic review therefore aimed to assess laypeople’s evaluations of facial profiles and identify any acceptability thresholds.
Materials and methods: An electronic search was conducted of nine databases (PubMed, PubMed Central, National Library of Medicine [NLM], Embase, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials [Central], Web of Knowledge, Scopus, Google Scholar and Latin American and Caribbean Health Sciences Literature [LILACS]) using the search terms “(Profile* OR Facial) AND (esthetic* OR aesthetic* OR prominence) AND (perception OR perspective OR evaluation OR awareness OR attention OR attractiveness)”.
Results: Of the 13,621 analysed articles, 20 were selected for the final review process. Twelve of these investigated the perception of profile aesthetics using profile photographs and eight using profile silhouettes, with one of the latter eight studies using lip profile silhouettes specifically. Three main features were identified: profile convexity (straight profiles were considered most appealing in men, whereas a retruded chin position was preferred in women), facial height ratio (a mesiodivergent pattern was most appealing) and lip position (profiles with the upper and lower lip behind the E-line were considered most attractive).
Conclusions: Acceptability thresholds for profile aesthetic characteristics were not obtained due to heterogeneity of measurements and the facial profiles preferred by laypeople were skeletal Class I, mesofacial or brachyfacial type, with lips behind the E-line. Adult observers preferred a more retruded profile compared with younger observers.