Comparison of 3D Nasal Anthropometry between Beauty Pageant Contestants of Korea and Paraguay : Miss Korea Vs Miss Paraguay

Background

Beauty is one of the main ultimate goals in plastic surgery. There have been various efforts to find optimal aesthetic evaluation in order to reproduce cosmetically attractive results.^1,2 Among various factors that can affect beauty standards, interethnic variability in facial dimensions is an aspect of plastic surgery that has been studied consistently. ³ It is time to focus on ensuring measurements obtained by objective methods have not been tackled yet with such a consistency. In this study, we investigated measurable characteristics of nasal shape and dimensions exist between beauty pageant contestants of Korea and Paraguay focused on 3D nasal anthropometry.

Methods

Sets of 3D photographies were obtained from two groups of women: participants at two widely recognized beauty contests, 43 pageants from Miss Korea(GroupⅠ) and 22 pageants from Miss Paraguay(GroupⅡ). Twenty-seven soft tissue landmarks were marked on each face image; of these, six soft tissue landmarks are of interest for nasal analysis; nasal height, nasal width, nasofrontal angle, nasofacial angle, nasomental angle and nasolabial angle. Then we calculated some measurement using 3D images; nasal height/width proportion and nasal index, nasal proportions in relation to total facial height or width.

Results

Group Ⅰ had a higher nasal height (mean difference 2.41mm) and greater proportion of nasal height to width (mean difference 0.06), however, nasal width can be considered equivalent between both groups. Both Nasofrontal angle (mean difference 4.11°) and nasomental angle (mean difference 4.66°) resulted greater in Group Ⅰ. With respect to nasolabial angle, it showed a mean difference of 3.06° being greater in the Korean subset with no statistical significance (p = 0.098). All these differences were statistically significant.

Conclusions

We demonstrate a difference of nasal dimension and proportion from two sets of beautiful women that is necessary take into account a patient’s racial and ethnic background. There are meaningful analysis based on these prototypical individuals who represent a subpopulation raising a need for a more ample view of transcultural aesthetics. Having in mind the concept of solid intercultural differences in the judgement of beauty, or at least some proofs pointing that the perception of beauty is influenced at some degree by geographic, ethnic, cultural, and demographic factors. Even though people have their own standard for beautiful face, we may not allow treat some possible biological influence and cross-cultural patterns with disdain.

1. Kim S-C, Kim HB, Jeong WS, et al. Comparison of Facial Proportions Between Beauty Pageant Contestants and Ordinary Young Women of Korean Ethnicity: A Three-Dimensional Photogrammetric Analysis. Aesthetic plastic surgery. 2018;42(3):748-758.
2. Rhee SC, An S-J, Hwang R. Contemporary Koreans’ Perceptions of Facial Beauty. Archives of plastic surgery. 2017;44(5):390.
3. Fang F, Chung KC. Reply: A Systematic Review of Interethnic Variability in Facial Dimensions. Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery. 2012;129(1):165e-166e.