You might have heard of Ulthera, a non-invasive skin-lifting and -tightening ultrasound device that is FDA-cleared and used by many aesthetic clinics in Singapore to help clients achieve a more desirable face shape. The company behind the technology, Merz, conducted an extensive three-month search to find the most well-proportioned face.
The winner in SIngapore is Nurin Nisha M. Heallmy, a 29-year-old sales and marketing executive.
Dr. Owen Sunga, Executive Director of Merz Asia Pacific Medical Affairs and Clinical Education, has more than 15 years of research and medical experience. He forms the panel of experts for this large-scale search. He shares that the most common concerns that they had seen from the submissions are curved chin and a squared lower face. These features will require treatments to achieve a more ideal face shape.
We checked in with Dr. Sunga, who contributes to the growth of Merz Asia Pacific’s medical capabilities, to find out more about what constitutes a “perfect” face shape and the “golden ratios” that determine it.
What is the “golden ratio” of a well-proportioned face?
“The Golden Ratio of the face is defined as the facial height to width ratio,” Dr. Sunga says.
“The line from the trichion to the menton, to the right to left cheek at the widest area should be 1.618 : 1.”
Dr. Sunga explains that there have been many different numbers used in an attempt to describe beauty historically.
“However, only one mathematical relationship has been consistently and repeatedly reported to be present in beautiful things. This particular relationship is the ‘Golden Ratio’. It is a mathematical ratio that seems to appear recurrently in beautiful things in nature as well as in other things that are seen as ‘beautiful’,” he shares.
The “Golden Ratio” is a mathematical ratio of 1.618:1, the numbers that he had shared determine the perfect face shape.
“The number 1.618 is called ‘Phi’. Many things found in nature have parts that are in a ratio of 1.618:1. Two equal ratios are called a proportion. Since all golden ratios are equal to each other, two golden ratios shown as equaling each other are referred to as a ‘Golden Proportion’.”
Marquardt Mask
For more extensive reading about it, Dr. Sunga pointed us to Dr. Stephen R. Marquardt, an American surgeon, who has extensively studied this numerical relationship and which led to the development of the Marquardt Mask that uses the golden ratio to evaluate the face and its proportions.
How to achieve the perfect face shape?
Genetics definitely play a part in how your face shape looks, but Dr. Sunga says that it has been well established that lifestyle also influences it significantly.
“For example, smoking and excessive alcohol intake accelerates ageing and definitely will affect the appearance of the face,” he says.
Together with the launch of the face search, Merz also announced the launch of new medical guidelines at the 38th Annual Meeting of the International Society for Dermatological Surgery 2017.
These guidelines provide recommendations on the customisation and combination of aesthetic procedures on the upper, middle, and lower face. These procedures serve as interventions on each individual’s baseline characteristics.
“The new medical guidelines also include strategies for early enhancement, restoration and beautification of Asian faces. Treatment includes non-invasive micro-focused ultrasound with visualization and or Dermal Fillers and Botulinum toxin,” shares Dr. Sunga.
