Midface ratio
The height of your midface (eye line to nose base) relative to its width.
Why it matters
A compact midface reads youthful and masculine; a long midface reads more juvenile/neotenous.
What the midface ratio measures
The midface is the central block of the face between the eyes and the nose. This metric takes the height of that block - from the pupil line down to the base of the nose - and divides it by half the width of the face across the cheekbones. The result is a compactness measure: how tall the midface is relative to how wide the face is.
Most faces land between about 0.6 and 0.7 on this scale, with the typical value near 0.64. A higher number means a relatively taller midface for the face's width; a lower number means a shorter, more compact one.
Why midface proportion matters
The midface carries a lot of the impression of facial maturity. In the framing this tool uses, a compact, well-contained midface reads as youthful and, by convention, more masculine, while a longer midface reads as more juvenile or neotenous. Because the region sits at the centre of the face, its proportions also set how the eyes, cheekbones and nose relate to one another, which is why it tends to be a more influential measurement than its plain definition suggests.
The typical range and the evidence
The band used here is roughly 0.6 to 0.74, covering the normal spread and extending a little above the typical 0.64. Unusually for the proportions in this report, the supporting evidence here is relatively strong: in this app's set of rated faces, a fuller midface ratio tracked with higher ratings, making it one of the better-correlated frontal proportions rather than a loose convention.
Even so, this remains an aesthetic pattern rather than a rule, and it draws on the kind of classic anthropometric proportion work that Farkas 1994 catalogued. It describes a tendency across many faces; it does not rank an individual face, and it varies with ancestry and sex.
Reading your own number and what can change
A value inside the band means your midface height and face width are in a conventional balance. A markedly low or high value simply means a shorter or longer central face, best seen in context with your thirds and your cheekbones rather than on its own. Camera height matters here too: shooting from above or below foreshortens the midface and shifts the number, so use a level, front-on photo.
This is essentially fixed structure. The height of the midface and the width of the cheekbones are skeletal, so no grooming or skincare routine changes the ratio itself - the most you can do is present it honestly with good framing. Surgical procedures can alter midface height, but they are major interventions noted here only as fact, not as a recommendation.
Typical range
~0.6-0.74 (compact midface)
Midface height (pupil line to nose base) relative to half the bizygomatic width — a compactness measure. Normal faces sit around 0.6-0.7.
What your reading means
- Typical
- Your midface is compact and well proportioned.
- Less common
- Your midface length is close to the preferred range.
- Distinctive
- Your midface reads relatively long or short.
How we measured it
We measure the eye-line-to-nose-base height and divide by half your face width.
The evidence
Validated strongly: a fuller midface ratio tracked higher ratings in our data (one of the better-correlated frontal proportions).
References
- Farkas, L. G. (Ed.). (1994). Anthropometry of the Head and Face (2nd ed.). New York: Raven Press.