You might be more attractive than you think: One surprising facial feature might matter more than symmetry, finds study of 1,550 faces

Facial symmetry has long been linked with beauty. The basic idea is quite simple — a face where the left and right sides look more alike is often assumed to be more attractive. It is a belief that has appeared in beauty discussions as well as scientific research on human attraction. But a large study looking at 1,550 faces suggests that the story may not be quite so simple.

Researchers found that another aspect of facial shape showed a much more consistent connection with how attractive people were rated.

Study examined faces from 10 countries

The research, published in Evolution and Human Behavior, examined 1,550 natural faces from Brazil, Cameroon, Colombia, Czechia, India, Namibia, Romania, Turkey, the UK and Vietnam.


The researchers, led by Karel Kleisner, used standardised frontal photographs and mapped 72 landmarks and semilandmarks across each face. These included points around the eyes, nose, mouth, jaw and other parts of the facial outline.

The photographs were then analysed using geometric morphometrics, which allowed the team to compare the overall shape of different faces rather than looking at one feature in isolation.

Attractiveness was based on average ratings given on a seven-point scale. The main analysis used opposite-sex raters from the same cultural population as the people whose faces were being assessed.

What makes one face different from another?

One of the key measurements in the study was something researchers called distinctiveness, which is essentially the opposite of facial averageness.

This did not mean deciding whether someone looked ordinary or memorable in everyday terms. Researchers first calculated the average facial shape separately for men and women within each population. They then measured how far each individual face was from that relevant average.

A shorter distance meant the face was more similar to the local average, while a greater distance meant it was more distinctive.

The researchers found that greater distinctiveness was associated with lower attractiveness ratings in both men and women. More importantly, this pattern was seen across all 10 populations included in the research.

That does not mean people prefer identical-looking faces. It means that, within the specific facial measurements used in the study, faces closer to their sex- and population-specific average tended to receive higher ratings.

So, where does facial symmetry fit in?

This is where the findings become more interesting.

The researchers separately measured how symmetrical each face was by comparing its facial shape with a mirrored version. However, asymmetry can also make a face more distinctive. This creates a problem when trying to determine whether a lower attractiveness rating is linked to asymmetry itself or simply to the fact that the face looks less typical.

The researchers therefore used Bayesian statistical models to examine asymmetry, distinctiveness and sex-typicality together.

After accounting for the other characteristics, facial asymmetry did not show the expected independent negative relationship with attractiveness.

In simple terms, the study did not find strong evidence that naturally occurring facial asymmetry, by itself, explained why some faces were rated as more or less attractive.

Earlier research also questioned the symmetry effect

The findings are not completely isolated. A 2021 study published in Symmetry by Anthony J. Lee and colleagues found that preferences for facial symmetry could change depending on how an experiment was conducted.

In some experiments, participants preferred symmetrical faces when choosing between two versions of the same face. But that preference was not found in the same way when participants simply rated faces for attractiveness.

The researchers suggested that experimental design, including whether faces were digitally altered or naturally varying, can affect the results.

A later study published in Scientific Reports also reported a similar pattern. Using 100 faces and ratings from 400 heterosexual participants, researchers again found that averageness was linked with attractiveness, while symmetry did not have a significant independent relationship after other facial characteristics were considered.

What this means for the idea of beauty

The study does not prove that symmetry never influences how people perceive a face. It also does not mean that an average-looking face will automatically be considered beautiful.

Instead, the findings suggest that attractiveness is more complicated than the familiar idea of simply having two perfectly matching sides of the face.

The researchers measured specific facial shapes in photographs under controlled conditions, so real-life attraction involves many other things too, including expressions, movement, grooming, familiarity and behaviour.

Still, for people who worry about a slightly uneven smile, nose or jawline, the findings offer an interesting reason not to treat perfect symmetry as the ultimate measure of facial attractiveness.