Chinese face reading being studied by plastic surgeons

by Carol Forsloff - Plastic surgeons are looking at Chinese face reading and how that impacts the aesthetic sense in order to determine the approaches to plastic surgery.  What is Chinese face reading and is there a Western counterpart? According to the abstract of a study on Chinese face reading and how that impacts how plastic surgeons might better understand what Asians want in terms of facial reconstructions, the emphasis is placed on aesthetic principles.

Face reading became an art that developed over centuries in China.  It is said to be similar to feng shui and based on a philosophy held by Chinese people all over the world.  It expresses itself in every day life and influences people's choices, likes and dislikes. Chinese say they can tell what a person is like by reading the person's face.  Perhaps that is why Westerners consider the Asian to be difficult to "read."  It may be that reading faces is so important to Asian custom that people don't want to be "read" and therefore keep their countenances controlled.

Specific to Chinese face reading are certain principles, that some say are best learned through a "master."  But there are some secrets available on the Internet that give the basics. So what are these basics?

The face reader tells us to imagine lines drawn down the middle of the face and across it as well, putting the face into halves and quadrants from which the pieces are then analyzed. The left side of the face is the male side; the right side is the female. Now here is an initial interpretation:  "If you are female and the left hand side of your face is fuller than the right hand side this means you care more for males than you do females. So you are likely to put others needs ahead of yourself, particularly those of your husband or boyfriend, father or sons. If this is the case, remember to look after yourself as well! If the right hand side of your face is fuller than the left hand side that means you care more for females than males, usually this says you are more a mum’s girl than dad’s girl. "

But is there any science to the idea you can tell a person's personality from their face.  It turns out there is verifiable information that it is possible from a British Journal of Psychology that documents studies where there is some accuracy in personality attribution using only appearance. Then there are people, such as Naomi Tickle,  in the present day culture, one who calls herself a "personologist: who writes about how personality can be determined from the face.  On the other hand, there is no developed, universal, culturally accepted science that would be equivalent to the Chinese interpretations of the face and the value Asians put on that.


So what do plastic surgeons use as a yardstick for their determination of aesthetics?  They use their own beliefs or ask the patient. 


The rest of us likely guess.