Cosmetic Surgery Specialists of Memphis, PLLC

What is Beauty?

A thing of beauty is a joy forever:
Its loveliness increases;
it will never
Pass into nothingness
John Keats
Endymion, Book i.1

Beauty is truth,
truth beauty,
that is all Ye know on earth, 
and all ye need to know
John Keats
Ode on a Grecian Urn

She walks in beauty, like the night
Of cloudless climes and starry skies;
And all that’s best of dark and bright
Meet in her aspect and her eyes
Lord Byron

Every beauty which is seen here below by persons of perception resembles more than anything else that celestial source from which we all are come . . .
Michelangelo (1475-1564) 
Italian painter, sculptor, architect, poet

Chances are your looks may influence your income, the perception of your intelligence and your job opportunities.

Although we were told over and again not "to judge a book by its cover", the real world does judge you by your appearance.  All the time.  It is a well-proven fact that attractive men and women get MORE out of life.  They get more affection than their siblings from their mothers, more attention from the opposite sex, more leniency from judges and policemen, more votes (just examine recent American politics) and earn more money at work. They are regarded as more capable, confident, healthy and intelligent and successful than others. 

(Beauty)...it's a sort of bloom on a woman. 
If you have it you don't need to have anything else; 
and if you don't have it, it doesn't much matter what else you have.
James Matthew Barrie

Venus emerges from the sea foam on a shell driven to the shore by flying wind-gods amidst a shower of roses. 
Botticelli's Venus is so beautiful that we do not immediately notice the unnatural length of her neck, the steep fall of her shoulders and the odd way her left arm is hinged to the body.

But ..."Beauty is in the Eyes of the Beholders"
ONLY as long as they see a 1.618034 ratio…

We all know that external beauty is a matter of proportions and symmetry. What many do not know is that these desired proportions involve a simple ratio. From birth, the human eye finds a specific simple mathematical proportion irresistibly appealing and the objects and people that reflect this proportion are regarded as beautiful.

This ratio (5:3, 8:5, 13:8, 21:13 etc) has been called the Divine Proportion, Golden Section, Golden Mean, the Magic Ratio and the Fibonacci Series.  It is widely reflected in Nature in the shape of starfish, the spiral of a nautilus seashell, the shape of pinecones and the spirals of galaxies. The Egyptians knew of this proportion and it is represented in the pyramid of Cheops (circa 2900 BC).

The Pythagorean Greeks already knew about the Golden Section in 500 BC and Euclid described it in his major geometry book, Elements, around 300BC. This mathematical basis of apparent harmony was also studied by the famous Greek sculptor and architect, Phidias, who applied it in his works.  While subtle, when examined for closely this ratio is widely present

Proportions of the Parthenon in Athens

in architecture and is reflected in the pyramids and Greek temples and monuments.  The Parthenon, the temple to Athena, built around 430 BC on the Acropolis in Athens, is based on a Golden rectangle – its width is Phi times (1.618034) its height.

In 1202, Leonardo da Pisa (also known as Fibonacci (son of Bonacci) (See Below) described the numerical series (0,0,1,1,2,3,5,8,13,21,34…) in his book Liber Abaci, a numerical sequence which became known as the Fibonacci series.  (Fibonacci is also famous for bringing about the adoption of the Hindu-Arabic numbering system and abandonning the Latin numbering system ( i.e. 1999 vs. MCMXCIX)). In the Fibonacci series each number is the sum of the two preceding numbers and, beginning with 3, the ratio between any two adjacent numbers is 1 to 1.618034 to 1 or its inverse 0.618034. The ratio has been called the "Golden Proportion" and been assigned the Greek letter phi, F, in honor of Phidias, the greatest sculptor of ancient Greece, who used it in his sculptures, among the most famous of which were Athena Parthenos in Athens and the Zeus in the temple of Olympia.

The Fibonacci pattern is seen all around us. In nature, Fibonacci patters are seen with flowers, leaves, shells and animals (Click on the pictures above to see the details). Moreover, artists as diverse as Albrecht Dürer, Leonardo da Vinci and the post-impressionist George Seurat used this ratio in planning their paintings.

The classical mathematical representation of this ratio can be seen in Leonardo da Vinci's Vitruvian man (Left). Phi was also found represented in the musical compositions of Mozart, Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony, Debussy, Schubert and other musicians.

The Divine proportion is widely seen in the human body. Our hands beautifully represent this relation. The ratio of the length of the palm divided by the length of the fingers is Phi. So is the ratio of the length of each finger divided by the distance from the first joint (PIP) to the end of the digit, or the ratio of the distance from the first finger joint (PIP) divided by the distance from the farthest-most joint (DIP) to the end of the finger. The ratio remains 1.618034. As a result, as the fingers go from full extension to full flexion, they execute perfect equiangular movement as described by the Fibonacci series and trace out the outlines of nautilus spirals.

The Divine Proportion is amazingly ubiquitous in analysis of the beautiful face. In horizontal analysis, the following widths share a Fibonacci relation; width of the nose, width of the mouth (corner to corner), distance between the lateral corners of the eyes and width of the head at the level of the eyebrow.

In vertical analysis of the beautiful face, the following have ratios of 1.618 are seen :

- The height of the chin (1.618) (from interface between the lips (the lip embrasure, or stomion) to the bottom of the chin) to the height of the upper lip (1.0) (base of nose to interface between lips with mouth closed).

- The distance from bottom of the lower eyelid (the alar rim) to the bottom of chin (1.618) to distance from the alar rim to the interface between the lips (stomion) (1.0). In addition multiple other areas of the face, both in profile and frontal views manifest this golden proportion.

- and many more golden proportions.

The truth, the absolute truth, is that the chief beauty 
for the theatre consists in fine bodily proportions.
Sarah Bernhardt (1844-1923) 
French actress

In summary, in beautiful faces, Golden or Phi ratios exist between three facial areas –  forehead to eye, eye to mouth and nose to chin. While it is unclear why, the ratio of 1.61083 (or phi) is definitely preferred by the human eye and is regarded as beautiful.

Cosmetic surgery is an investment in yourself. 
An investment which could make a world of
difference in your outlook.

Peter A. Aldea, M.D.       Patricia L. Eby, M.D.
Certified by The American Board of Plastic Surgery
Members of the American Society of Plastic Surgeons
Fellows of The American College of Surgeons