title: Software-based evaluation of human attractiveness: a pilot study.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The difficulty of evaluating esthetics in an unbiased way may be overcome by using automated software applications.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  The purpose of this study was to assess the use of a smartphone application as an objective tool for evaluating attractiveness and to evaluate its potential in dentistry.
  
  
  METHODS
  Ten white participants (mean age ±SD, 42.1 ±22.6 years) were randomly chosen, and frontal facial pictures of each participant were made. The smartphone application PhotoGenic was used to evaluate the attractiveness of the participants. For comparison, 100 randomly (age>16 years, social environment of the research team) selected raters were asked to evaluate the same participants. The influence of participants' facial expression, age, and sex as well as the raters' age, sex, and occupation was investigated. Statistical analyses (linear mixed models with random intercepts; least square means, 95% confidence interval; P<.05) were implemented.
  
  
  RESULTS
  PhotoGenic produced a mean ±SD attractiveness score of 6.4 ±1.2 and the rater group of 4.9 ±1.8 (P<.001; score range, 0-10). Female raters tended to slightly higher attractiveness scores. The participants' sex, facial expression, and age seemed to not be of high relevance; however, the raters' sex and occupation had an impact on the evaluation.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  PhotoGenic rated the participants' attractiveness with higher scores (more attractive) than did the human raters. Currently, PhotoGenic is not used as an objective evaluation tool for treatment outcomes for dental treatments because the visibility of the teeth (smiling facial expression) has no influence on the evaluation.
authors.affiliation: Clinical Assistant Professor and Scientific Associate, Department of Prosthodontics, University Medical Center Freiburg; and Visiting Research Professor, Department of Periodontics, School of Dentistry, University of Maryland Baltimore, Baltimore, MD. Electronic address: spatzelt@umaryland.edu.
authors.forename: Sebastian B M
authors.initials: SB
authors.lastname: Patzelt
authors.affiliation: Former Doctoral Candidate, Department of Prosthodontics, University Medical Center Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany.
authors.forename: Leonie K
authors.initials: LK
authors.lastname: Schaible
authors.affiliation: Biostatistician, Clinical Epidemiology, Department of Clinical Research, University Hospital Basel, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Susanne
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Stampf
authors.affiliation: Associate Professor and Vice Chairman, Department of Prosthodontics, University Medical Center Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany.
authors.forename: Ralf J
authors.initials: RJ
authors.lastname: Kohal
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000465:Algorithms; D004954:Esthetics; D005145:Face / Q000033:anatomy & histology*; D005149:Facial Expression; D000066499:Facial Recognition; D005260:Female; D006282:Health Personnel; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D063731:Mobile Applications; D010865:Pilot Projects; D012737:Sex Factors; D000068997:Smartphone; D012904:Smiling; D012984:Software; D055815:Young Adult