Facial Recognition Pattern before and after Lower Eyelid Blepharoplasty: An Eye Tracking Analysis.

This study investigated eye movement patterns using eye tracking technology when looking at preoperative and postoperative images of patients that underwent bilateral periorbital cosmetic surgery. The sequence of facial recognition before surgery was periorbital-nose-perioral, whereas following surgery it was nose-periorbital-perioral. This study revealed that the sequence of facial feature recognition is influenced by the aesthetic liking of the observer and that alteration to facial features influences the sequence of facial feature recognition. The eye movement pattern, however, seems to follow the internal representation of beauty where aesthetically pleasing facial features are observed later during first image exposure and are viewed shorter.

Identifying the most attractive umbilical position - an eye tracking- and survey-based investigation.

Abdominoplasty is a popular procedure in plastic surgery providing aesthetic, functional and psychological relief for patients suffering from excess abdominal tissue. Correct umbilical positioning is crucial for a successful aesthetic surgical outcome. This study aims to assess the most attractive position of the umbilicus by means of subjective and objective outcome measures. 58 Caucasian study participants with a mean age of 36.87 (15.6) years rated eight different umbilical positions. The various positions were determined based on the ratio of the distance between the xiphoid process and the umbilicus and the distance between the umbilicus and the infra-umbilical crease: 1:1, 1.25:1, 1.5:1, 1.75:1, 2:1, 2.5:1, 3:1 and 5.5:1. Semi-quantitative scoring of attractiveness based on a 5-point Likert scale and eye tracking analyses were utilized. The results revealed that the volunteers perceived as most attractive the ratio of 2:1 with 4.32 (out of possible 5.0). The ratio of 5.5:1 received the lowest rating with 1.8. The results of the objective eye tracking analyses confirmed the subjective rating as the 2:1 ratio was fixated last amongst all other displayed ratios with 1.85 s whereas the 5.5:1 ratio had the shortest interval between image display and first stable eye fixation with 0.94 s. The study confirms the concept of 'internal representation of beauty'. Abdominoplasty procedures could rely on this easy to perform ratio by dividing the distance into thirds and using the boundary between the inferior and middle third as a clinically reliable landmark.