The ideal angle of a woman's nose is 106 degrees because it enhances femininity, scientists claim.

 

Having a slightly upturned nose makes women appear more feminine, according to scientists who claim the angle at the nasal tip（鼻尖） should be exactly 106 degrees.

 

Noses which point downwards¹ are generally thought to appear droopy（下垂的）, long and masculine but a survey of people's reactions to digitally altered photographs found that those which incline slightly upwards² - with an angle greater than 90 degrees - can enhance femininity.

 

Researchers concluded that a tilt³（倾斜） of 106 degrees was the optimum angle, but added that because the study was conducted using photographs of young, white women, the findings may not apply to other races or ethnicities.

 

The findings, published in the JAMA Facial Plastic Surgery journal, could help cosmetic⁴ surgeons take a step closer to aesthetic⁵ perfection.

 

Previous studies of nose jobs, or rhinoplasty（鼻整形术）, have failed to provide a consensus⁶ on the ideal angle of the nose to a woman's face.

 

Researchers showed a group of 106 people photographs of several Caucasian women aged⁷ 18 to 25 which had been altered to place the nose at angles of 96, 101, 106, 111 and 116 degrees to their face.

 

The results showed that 106 degrees was considered the most feminine angle. A separate online survey of almost 4,000 people delivered similar findings.

 

The study backed up previous research papers which had identified 104 and 108 degrees as the ideal angle.

 

In men an angle of 90 degrees to the face is considered to be the most attractive as it makes the face seem more masculine.

 

Dr Omar Ahmed of New York University, first author of the study, said: "Throughout history artists and scholars have been engrossed⁸ in the pursuit of capturing what constitutes beauty. Dating back to ancient Egypt artists idealised facial proportions in their works.

 

"To our knowledge this is the first population-based study to attempt to simultaneously⁹ determine the ideal NTP - nasal tip projection¹⁰ - and rotation¹¹. A rotation of 106 degrees was found to be the most aesthetic."

 

"Further research is needed to determine whether a more ideal projection exists.”

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