The Human Face

The human face abounds with examples of the Golden Section or Divine Proportion. We'll use our building blocks again to understand design in the face: The head forms a golden rectangle with the eyes at its midpoint. The mouth and nose are each placed at golden sections of the distance between the eyes and the bottom of the chin. The beauty unfolds as you look further.

Human beauty is based on the Divine Proportion The blue line defines a perfect square of the pupils and outside corners of the mouth. The golden section of these four blue lines defines the nose, the tip of the nose, the inside of the nostrils, the two rises of the upper lip and the inner points of the ear. The blue line also defines the distance from the upper lip to the bottom of the chin. The yellow line, a golden section of the blue line, defines the width of the nose, the distance between the eyes and eye brows and the distance from the pupils to the tip of the nose. The green line, a golden section of the yellow line defines the width of the eye, the distance at the pupil from the eye lash to the eye brow and the distance between the nostrils. The magenta line, a golden section of the green line, defines the distance from the upper lip to the bottom of the nose and several dimensions of the eye.

Click on the photo to the left to see another photo which illustrates the following golden sections in the human face: Center of pupil : Bottom of teeth : Bottom of chin Outer & inner edge of eye: Center of nose Outer edges of lips : Upper ridges of lips Width of center tooth : Width of second tooth Width of eye : Width of iris

Phi defines the dimensions of the human profile

Even when viewed from the side, the human head illustrates the Divine Proportion. The first golden section (blue) from the front of the head defines the position of the ear opening. The successive golden sections define the neck (yellow), the back of the eye (green) and the front of the eye and back of the nose and mouth (magenta). The dimensions of the face from top to bottom also exhibit the Divine Proportion, in the positions of the eye brow (blue), nose (yellow) and mouth (green and magenta). The ear reflects the shape of a Fibonacci spiral.

Even the dimensions of our teeth are based on phi

The front two incisor teeth form a golden rectangle, with a phi ratio in the heighth to the width.

The ratio of the width of the first tooth to the second tooth from the center is also phi.

The ratio of the width of the smile to the third tooth from the center is phi as well.

Visit the site of Dr. Eddy Levin for more on the Golden Section and Dentistry.