Harley Street facial cosmetic surgeon, Dr Julian De Silva, uses a combination of modern computerised mapping techniques with an ancient measurement of physical perfection to help plan patients’ surgery.
To demonstrate, he measured a number of female famous faces against the Greek Golden Ratio of Beauty Phi. Top of his picture-perfect list? Bella Hadid – whose face was found to be 94.35 per cent accurate to the ‘golden ratio’.
Dr De Silva, who runs the Centre for Advanced Facial Cosmetic and Plastic Surgery, said Hadid “was the clear winner when all elements of the face were measured for physical perfection”.
He added, “She had the highest overall reading for her chin which, with a score of 99.7 per cent, is only 0.3 per cent away from being the perfect shape.” Her sister, Gigi, didn’t make this list, but fellow supermodels Kate Moss and Cara Delevingne did, as well as stage and screen stars including Beyoncé (at number two), Amber Heard (number three), Ariana Grande (number four) and Taylor Swift (number five).
Speaking about his research, the renowned surgeon said, “These brand new computer mapping techniques allow us to solve some of the mysteries of what it is that makes someone physically beautiful and the technology is useful when planning patients’ surgery.”
While it may be useful for some, this method may not actually be scientifically sound, with little evidence of the claims surrounding it. Plus, we can all appreciate that symmetry is only one way of calculating something so subjective, and is by no means a definitive measurement of the physical characteristics of beauty.
Indeed, to many, perceived flaws are also what make people so attractive and unique. From Lara Stone and Lauren Hutton’s tooth gaps, to Kate Bosworth and Mila Kunis’s mismatched eye colours, while the mainstream media’s parameters of beauty may be typically narrow, those with slight quirks in the public eye are celebrated.
Naturally, what the notion of beauty meant to the ancient Greeks – or to a facial cosmetic surgeon who needs tangible measurements of physical improvement – may not reflect what beauty means to you. It may not mean anything you can see at all.
