Gonial (jaw) angle
The angle of your jaw at the corner (gonion) — how sharp or open the mandible is.
Why it matters
A defined jaw angle is a key masculinity and structure cue; sharper reads stronger, very open reads softer.
What the gonial angle actually measures
The gonial angle is the bend of the lower jaw, read at its rear corner: the gonion. That is the bony point you can feel just below and slightly in front of each earlobe, where the upward branch of the jaw (the ramus, which rises toward the jaw joint near the ear) meets the horizontal body of the jaw that carries the teeth forward to the chin. From a side photo the tool reduces that corner to a single number in degrees.
A smaller value describes a sharper, more right-angled turn; a larger value describes a gently sloping, more open curve. Naini (2011) treats this corner as one of the defining landmarks of the lower-face skeleton, and because it sits exactly at the boundary between the face and the neck, it quietly governs where the jawline stops curving and the neck begins.
Why a defined corner draws the eye
A crisp jaw corner gives the lower third of the face a clear lower border and a visible shelf between jaw and neck. In the conventions this tool reports, a more defined angle reads as a structure and masculinity cue: sharper tends to read as stronger, and a very open angle as softer.
It is worth stating plainly that this is a perceptual convention rather than a law. It is bound up with sex norms and, just as much, with how much soft tissue sits over the bone. None of it maps onto a person's worth; it is a description of how a contour tends to be read, nothing more.
The typical range, and why this reading is rough
The band shown here treats roughly 110 to 128 degrees as the well-defined range, with a modeled average near 122 degrees. Lower lands sharper; higher lands more open. These figures lean on orthodontic and aesthetic references, Naini (2011) and Arnett & Bergman (1993), that study the lower jaw in profile.
Two honest caveats matter. First, the gonial angle varies with sex, age and ethnicity, and soft-tissue padding over the corner can hide or exaggerate the underlying bone. Second, and the tool says this directly, the face mesh is unreliable in profile and the gonion point is only approximated, so this particular angle is rough. Treat it as a ballpark, not a figure you could take to a surgeon.
Reading your own number, and what can move it
Read a single value as one snapshot from one photo. Head tilt, camera height and the amount of fat or muscle over the jaw all shift it, so a reading outside the band is information about a contour, not a verdict.
What is realistically adjustable splits cleanly. The underlying angle is bone and is fixed in adults. What changes how it reads is mostly soft tissue and presentation: lower body-fat uncovers an angle hidden under fullness, posture (chin slightly forward and down, neck lengthened) sharpens the jaw-to-neck line, and a level camera with even lighting avoids foreshortening it. Beard shaping can draw or soften the corner. Non-surgically, filler near the jaw angle can sharpen a soft corner temporarily. Surgically, jaw-angle implants or an osteotomy reshape the bone permanently. The surgical routes are noted as options that exist, not as recommendations, and belong with a qualified specialist.
Typical range
~110-128°
Angle of the jaw at the gonion (ear-to-jaw vs jaw-to-chin). Lower = sharper jaw. Measured from the profile photo.
What your reading means
- Typical
- Your jaw angle sits in a well-defined range.
- Less common
- Your jaw angle is close to the preferred definition.
- Distinctive
- Your jaw angle reads very sharp or quite open versus the preferred range.
How we measured it
From your side photo, the angle at the jaw corner between the ramus and the jaw body.
The evidence
The mesh is unreliable in profile and the gonion is approximated, so this angle is rough.