Midface Ratio: What It Is and How It Affects Attractiveness
What the midface ratio measures, how to calculate yours from a photo, what research says about eye and mouth position, and what you can actually change.
By the Aesthetica Team6 min read
The midface ratio compares the distance between your pupils with the distance from your pupils down to the top of your upper lip. Divide the first by the second: a result close to 1.0 is what people call a compact midface, while a clearly lower number means a longer midface. The ratio comes from looksmaxxing communities rather than medicine, but it echoes a real finding: in a 2010 study, faces looked most attractive when the eyes were about 46% of the face width apart and the mouth sat about 36% of the face length below them.
Below: exactly how to measure it, what a compact or long midface looks like, what the research does (and doesn't) show, and what you can realistically change.
What is the midface?
In medicine and art, the midface (or middle third) is the band of the face between the brows and the base of the nose — one of the three horizontal facial thirds. It contains the cheekbones, the eyes' lower lids, the nose and the upper jaw (maxilla).
The midface ratio used online is narrower and easier to measure from a photo. It looks at just two distances:
| Measurement | From | To |
|---|---|---|
| A — eye distance | center of the left pupil | center of the right pupil |
| B — midface height | the line between the pupils | the top edge of the upper lip |
Midface ratio = A ÷ B.
Because both numbers come from the same photo, the units don't matter — pixels, millimeters or grid squares all give the same ratio.
How to measure your midface ratio
- Take the right photo. Face the camera straight on, neutral expression, mouth closed, chin level. Stand about 1.5 m (5 ft) away and zoom in, or use the rear camera with a timer. Close-up selfies distort proportions (more on that below).
- Mark the pupils. Find the center of each pupil and measure the distance between them — that's A.
- Draw the eye line. Imagine a horizontal line through both pupils.
- Measure down to the lip. From that line, measure straight down to the top of the upper lip (where the lip's colored border starts, at the center) — that's B.
- Divide A by B.
Do it on two or three photos and average the results: small errors in where you click on a pupil change the ratio noticeably. An automatic AI face analysis maps the landmarks for you, which removes most of that guesswork.
What is a good midface ratio?
The common rule of thumb in face-rating communities:
| Midface ratio (A ÷ B) | How it's usually described |
|---|---|
| about 1.0 or higher | compact midface |
| a little under 1.0 | average |
| clearly under 1.0 | long midface |
Treat these bands as descriptions, not grades. There is no peer-reviewed study that sets an "ideal" midface ratio of exactly 1.0 — the number is a community heuristic. What it tracks, though, overlaps with proportions that research has looked at.
What research says about eye and mouth position
The closest scientific evidence comes from a 2010 study by Pallett, Link and Lee. The researchers digitally moved the eyes and mouth on the same faces and asked people which versions looked most attractive. Two "golden" proportions came out:
- Horizontal: the distance between the pupils looked best at about 46% of the face's width (see our deep dive on eye spacing).
- Vertical: the distance between the eyes and the mouth looked best at about 36% of the face's length (hairline to chin).
Put simply: eyes that aren't too close together, and a mouth that doesn't sit too far below them. That is roughly what a "compact" midface describes. Two honest caveats:
- The study measured eye-to-mouth distance against face length, not the A ÷ B ratio above, so the two are related rather than identical.
- The best-rated faces were close to the average face shape of the faces tested. Like most proportion rules, this one describes what looks typical and balanced — not a single perfect face.
Compact vs long midface
| Compact midface | Long midface | |
|---|---|---|
| Eyes to upper lip | shorter | longer |
| Common impression | youthful, "striking" in photos | more mature, calm |
| How common | less common | very common |
A longer midface is not a flaw. The midface tends to lengthen a little with age as soft tissue descends and the upper lip lengthens (see philtrum and lip proportions), which is one reason a compact midface reads younger. Plenty of faces that people find very attractive have average or long midfaces balanced by other features — overall facial harmony matters more than any one ratio.
What changes how your midface looks
What you can't change without surgery
The midface ratio is mostly bone: the position of the eye sockets and the vertical height of the upper jaw. No exercise, mewing routine or product changes skeletal proportions in adults. Procedures that do (such as jaw surgery) are major operations for medical reasons — a decision for a qualified surgeon, not a fix for a ratio.
What changes how it reads
- Photo distance. Short-distance photos are wide-angle by nature. In a 2018 study in JAMA Facial Plastic Surgery, a photo taken about 30 cm (12 in) from the face made the nose base look roughly 30% wider than one taken from 1.5 m (5 ft). The middle of the face gets exaggerated — step back and zoom in for a true read. Our selfie guide covers the full setup.
- The upper lip. A defined upper lip (lip liner along the natural border) makes the gap between the eyes and the lip look a little shorter. Fillers add volume but don't move the lip's position.
- Head angle. Tilting your chin down shortens how the midface looks in photos; tilting it up lengthens it. Measure with your head level.
- Facial hair and framing. A mustache adds visual weight to the lower midface, and hairstyles that add width at eye level can make the face read wider relative to its length. These change perception, not the ratio itself.
Midface ratio and attractiveness
Does the midface ratio decide how attractive you are? No single measurement does. Studies on facial attractiveness keep pointing to the same broad factors — averageness, symmetry, clear skin and sex-typical features — with each proportion playing a modest role. A compact midface is one pleasing detail; it doesn't override everything else.
If you're curious how your proportions add up, an attractiveness test or AI face rating looks at many features together instead of one ratio. Aesthetica maps your face from a single selfie, including proportions and symmetry, with personalized tips — photos are encrypted and deleted after analysis. Use the score as a guide, not a verdict.
FAQ
What is the ideal midface ratio?
Face-rating communities treat a ratio of about 1.0 (pupil distance equal to the distance from the pupils to the upper lip) as ideal. That number is a rule of thumb, not an established scientific standard.
How do you calculate your midface ratio?
Measure the distance between the centers of your pupils (A), then the distance from the line between your pupils down to the top of your upper lip (B). Divide A by B, using a straight-on photo taken from about 1.5 m away.
Is a compact midface more attractive?
A compact midface often reads as youthful and balanced, and research found faces looked best when the mouth sat about 36% of the face length below the eyes. But it's one factor among many; overall harmony matters more.
Can you fix a long midface?
The midface is mostly determined by bone, so it can't be shortened without surgery. Taking photos from farther away, keeping your head level and defining the upper lip can change how it reads.
Does mewing change your midface ratio?
There's no good evidence that mewing changes adult bone structure, so it isn't a reliable way to change your midface ratio.