The lips of Kylie Jenner and Angelina Jolie are a topic of conversation for a reason. With countless celebrities opting for lip injections and various plumpers available on the market, it’s no surprise that someone finally asked the question, “What’s the ideal lip size?” To which now, we have an answer.
A study posted on the JAMA Network investigated and concluded what the “most attractive” lip measurements are for white women. After surveying more than 570 people in three phases, researchers were able to gauge the ideal lip measurements by examining overall surface area, ratio of upper lip to lower lip, and the linear dimension of the lips relative to the lower third of the face.
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During the first phase, participants were shown digital images of 20 white women that were each morphed into five different lip surface areas. Then, 150 people ranked these 100 images on their attractiveness. In phase two, just four variations of each face were created with the 15 of the most attractive surface areas from the first phase. Once those 60 faces were created, 428 people ranked them. In phase three, the surface area of lips from the faces deemed most attractive were used to determine the total lip surface area relative to the lower third of the face.
Once everything was calculated, findings proved that the ideal size is an increase of lip surface area by 53.5 percent, a ratio of 1:2 upper to lower lip, and the lower lip making up 9.6 percent of the lower third of the face.
“In my experience, the top-light lip characterizes the aging female face,” explains Dover, OH, facial plastic surgeon David Hartman, MD. “As we age, the upper lip disproportionately loses volume, as well as, loses the upper lip curves of youth.” He also notes that women in their 30s to 40s look for equal enhancements on both the upper and lower lip, while clients in their 40s to 60s look best with most of the enhancements applied to the upper lip.
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In general, these findings were researched and discovered in order to provide plastic surgeons and their white female patients a general guideline for lip augmentation. “We advocate preservation of the natural ratio or achieving a one-to-two ratio in lip augmentation procedures while avoiding the overfilled upper lip look frequently seen among celebrities,” the authors concluded.
However, Hartman notes that everyone has different preferences. “The other reality that I find especially true with lips is that it is highly personal-preference driven.” Unsurprisingly, many other dermatologists agree that these findings aren’t the best to follow for every patient looking to get lip fillers. New York dermatologist Neil Sadick, MD, says that the ratio from top to bottom lip varies per person and is not one, single accurate finding, making it important to treat each patient’s lips differently than the last.
So while these findings are helpful to provide a basis for doctors, the perfect pout is really whatever you want it to be.
