The Scientific Principles of Beauty: How Do You Measure Up?
Even though plastic surgery procedures can accomplish a wide variety of different goals, most people associate them with the pursuit of beauty. However, beauty is a broad concept that can mean a lot of different things to different people. Even though we all know that being a “beautiful person” encompasses much more than just outward appearance, there actually is an underlying scientific and objective basis for physical attractiveness. Specifically, studies have found that there are three key traits: symmetry, averageness, and healthiness, which are considered to be attractive regardless of cultural or ethnic group of the individuals surveyed. Cosmetic plastic surgery procedures can potentially help patients improve all three.
Symmetry
Being balanced in composition, or at least being closely similar on the left and right sides, is symmetry. Multiple scientific surveys have found that people generally seem to find a face more attractive if it is even and balanced. In other words, according to the surveys, the closer the left and right halves of the face mimic one another, the more attractive that face is perceived as being. No living being is ever perfectly symmetrical, but precisely-targeted plastic surgery procedures, like mini-facelifts or even breast augmentation procedures, can be performed in such a way as to more exactly balance the left and right sides of the face or body, effectively increasing attractiveness.
Averageness
Research also suggests that people tend to favor faces that more closely resemble the majority of the other faces in the population. This preference for averageness places those with specific features that are larger or smaller than is typical at a disadvantage. Cosmetic plastic surgery procedures like nose surgery (rhinoplasty), surgery of the chin (genioplasty), or even surgery to shape the ears (otoplasty) can all work to bring the individual features into balance and improve overall appearance.
Healthiness
Finally, people tend to instinctively look for signs of healthiness and youth when they judge how attractive a person may be, so traditional signs of facial aging like fine lines, wrinkles, and uneven skin color or texture tend to make us appear, on average, less attractive. Non-surgical facial rejuvenation procedures like chemical peels and laser skin resurfacing treatments can correct these issues by gently removing the dry and damaged layers of skin on the surface to reveal healthier and youthful-looking skin underneath.
Beauty may only be skin deep, but it can still have a significant effect on both our professional and personal lives. Ultimately, every person has their own specific areas of concern that they would love to have addressed, and plastic surgery can definitely help. If you are interested in learning more about the many procedures that we perform at Atlanta Plastic Surgery and what they might be able to do for you, please contact one of our Atlanta Plastic Surgery physicians at our Atlanta, Alpharetta, Cumming, or Newnan office to schedule an appointment for a consultation. Don’t forget to follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Google+ for the latest plastic surgery news.
