title: Soft-tissue facial characteristics of attractive Italian women as compared to normal women.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To compare the facial characteristics of two different groups of attractive women with those of reference women.
  
  
  METHODS
  The three-dimensional coordinates of 50 facial landmarks were collected in 71 healthy reference women (18-30 years old) and in 24 coetaneous "attractive" women selected during two different beauty competitions; soft tissue facial angles, distances, areas, and volumes were computed and compared using analysis of variance.
  
  
  RESULTS
  When compared with reference women, both groups of attractive women shared several similar facial characteristics: relatively large forehead (P < .001), reduced mandible (P = .008), and rounded face (reduced surface-to-volume ratio, P = .002). They had a more acute soft tissue profile, an increased upper facial width (P < .001) and middle facial depth, larger mouth, and more voluminous lips (P = .005) than reference women.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Both groups of attractive women had several facial characteristics suggesting babyness. Nonetheless, each group of women was characterized by a different development of these features. Esthetic reference values can be a useful tool for clinicians, but should always consider the characteristics of individual faces.
authors.affiliation: Department of Human Morphology, University of Milan, Milan, Italy. chiarella.sforza@unimi.it
authors.forename: Chiarella
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Sforza
authors.forename: Alberto
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Laino
authors.forename: Raoul
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: D'Alessio
authors.forename: Gaia
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Grandi
authors.forename: Miriam
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Binelli
authors.forename: Virgilio Ferruccio
authors.initials: VF
authors.lastname: Ferrario
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001504:Beauty; D002508:Cephalometry; D004955:Esthetics, Dental; D005145:Face / Q000033:anatomy & histology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007558:Italy; D012016:Reference Values; D055815:Young Adult