What Makes Beautiful Eyes, According to a Plastic Surgeon

Hello, I am Park Seong-hyeok of Nuneopgi Plastic Surgery.

When you specialize in eye surgery in Gangnam,

you inevitably start thinking about what makes an eye beautiful...

In this post,

I’d like to introduce, in an easy-to-understand way,

the conditions that beautiful eyes should have.

I tried to write this as objectively as possible,

(but the lectures I have attended over the years and the aesthetic discussions I have had with many doctors

had a significant influence on this article)

and, as a plastic surgeon who analyzes beauty by nature😅,

I’ll say at the outset that it is not completely free of my own subjective opinions.^^

Elements that make up beautiful eyes

1. Balance, proportions

2. Shape (almond shape)

3. The proportions of beautiful eyes

a) Horizontal proportions

The space between the eyebrows and the eyes should ideally be in a 1:1:1 ratio.

The distance between the eyes should be about the size of one pupil.

In truth, plastic surgery cannot completely correct your natural proportions.

But if the distance between the eyes is wide,

an epicanthoplasty can make the space between the eyebrows

look narrower.

Before and after epicanthoplasty + incisional double eyelid surgery + ptosis correction (3 months later)

b) Vertical proportions

How much of the pupil is visible is very important.

It is also a factor in determining whether the eyes look sleepy or clear,

and in plastic surgery, it is surgically important because ptosis correction is used to adjust pupil exposure.

If the size of the pupil is taken as 100,

in general, among young people in their teens and twenties,

men should have more than 85% exposed,

and women should have about 90 to 95% exposed.

Incisional double eyelid surgery + ptosis correction for true ptosis (2 months later)

Incisional double eyelid surgery + ptosis correction + epicanthoplasty for true-pseudo combined ptosis (right side: 1 week after revision surgery, left side: 1 year after the first surgery)

At this point, the proportion of pupil exposure

can be a little lower with age,

but even in middle-aged and older adults, it is desirable for more than 80% to be exposed.

Before and after upper blepharoplasty + ptosis correction in a person in their 60s (6 months later)

What I want to emphasize here is that

in order to match proportions,

a ptosis correction surgery is not something everyone necessarily needs.

It is important for the medical team to have the experience to distinguish

whether the true strength of eyelid opening has actually decreased,

or whether

it only looks like ptosis because of sagging skin.

True ptosis vs. pseudo ptosis

If you can determine this to some extent and avoid unnecessary ptosis correction,

as in the case below,

a buried double eyelid surgery alone can bring about a major change.

Buried-method double eyelid surgery for pseudo ptosis (5 weeks later)

But in reality,

there are many cases where sagging skin and true ptosis are mixed together.

The case below involved removing the sagging skin on both sides with incisional surgery,

performing ptosis correction on one side,

and, based on the findings observed during surgery,

explaining to the patient during the operation that ptosis surgery was not needed on the other side,

then finishing the procedure.

Before and after incisional double eyelid surgery for true & pseudo ptosis + ptosis correction on only one side (2 months later)

c) The ratio of white visible area

Another important factor in determining the proportions of beautiful eyes

is the ratio of the visible white area.

The white area behind should be larger than the white area in front.

If the ratio of the white area in front and in back is

5:5,

then

4:6

makes the expression tend to look kinder.

Personally,

I think 3:7 is a bit too much.

Excerpt from the Instagram of another clinic in Japan

Also, as shown in the image above,

if the lower corner is widened too much,

the curve under the eye (blue dotted line) can be extended downward,

which increases the visible white area.

But making this kind of “tongue-out eye” (red arrow)

may look pretty in photos,

but in real life it is not such an appealing look,

and because it is a trend-driven appearance,

I do not think it is a change worth strongly recommending if you are a doctor who respects the anatomical structure of the eye.

Epicanthoplasty (+ upper canthoplasty)

helps improve the appearance of the eye to match the 4:6 ratio

or the 1:1:1 ratio mentioned earlier...

In addition,

as in the case below,

it also helps remove the Mongolian fold

developed at the inner corner of the eye.

Buried-method double eyelid surgery + epicanthoplasty (6 months later)

Lateral canthoplasty and lower canthoplasty

are procedures performed to achieve the 4:6 ratio explained above.

Although the terminology is commercial,

these are actually highly innovative procedures because they are applications of the basic reconstructive technique in plastic surgery,

a flap procedure.

However!

Depending on the degree of globe protrusion and the position of the bones,

the amount of change that can be made may be limited,

and if you try to go beyond those limits to correct it,

you may experience the side effects of a D-shaped lateral canthoplasty,

so greed is not advisable.

Below is a customer from Nuneopgi Plastic Surgery who underwent only lateral and lower canthoplasty....

Effect of lateral canthoplasty (yellow arrow) and effect of lower canthoplasty (change in the angle of the red dotted line)

Before surgery, the patient felt that the horizontal width of the eyes was somewhat short,

and hoped the eyes would become more refreshing and larger,

but wanted naturalness rather than dramatic change.

In such cases, lateral and lower canthoplasty can be performed.

Lower canthoplasty has the effect of making a steep curve like the red dotted line on the left

more gradual, like the red dotted line on the right,

and lateral canthoplasty has the effect of moving the inner corner of the eye

backward in the direction of the yellow arrow.

2. The shape of beautiful eyes

a) Horizontal : vertical ratio

The relationship between the horizontal width of the eye and the horizontal width of the pupil

The horizontal width of the eye (yellow) and the vertical width (green)

are said to be beautiful at a ratio of about 10:4,

but this ratio should vary depending on race and culture.

However, there are reports in the literature that the longer the horizontal length of the eye,

the younger and more feminine it looks,

and in my own clinic,

I can really feel in practice that the larger the horizontal width of the eye,

the kinder and more refreshing the impression.

For reference,

when looking for a specialized eye-surgery clinic for ptosis correction,

please keep in mind that if the vertical width of the eye (green arrow)

is made larger than the horizontal width of the pupil (red arrow),

the eye shape will look unnatural.

b) Almond shape

Conditions for achieving almond-shaped eyes

To create eyes with a clean yet pure feeling,

as shown in the figure above,

the width of the yellow arrow should be appropriately large,

the width should be greatest at the position of the green arrow,

and the orange side should not narrow abruptly, but should form a curve that descends slightly downward.

This shape is commonly called an almond shape,

and is known to look feminine and attractive.

c) The angle of the eye corners

The outer corner of the eye is slightly raised above the horizontal line (dotted line)

The line connecting the inner and outer corners of the eye should not be perfectly horizontal,

but should tilt slightly upward toward the outer side by about 2 to 4 degrees.

If the outer corner of the eye feels droopy,

it can be raised with lateral canthoplasty,

but because the white area behind the eye may become narrower,

that is not a change most patients want.

Instead, if the double eyelid line is designed to become wider toward the back,

it can somewhat conceal the drooping of the outer corner of the eye.

Incisional double eyelid surgery + ptosis correction (3 months later)

Conclusion

Opinions will differ from person to person about what the most beautiful eyes are.

The content in this article introduces the items that are commonly discussed in many plastic surgery textbooks

and in discussions among board-certified plastic surgeons.

When getting double eyelid surgery,

instead of deciding only on a line that suits you,

if you also become familiar with the proportions, shapes, and pupil size introduced in this article,

I think it will be very helpful when you receive a consultation for eye surgery in Gangnam.