In a study(1), the authors took 12 white women with no history of nasal trauma or nasal surgery and morphed their side view photographs to come up with the following profile, representing the average among them.
They then digitally manipulated the nose in three ways separately, as shown below, namely by varying the nasal profile from a scooped-out look to a humped/hooked appearance, altering the rotation of the nasal tip and altering the extent of nose projection. 27 reduction rhinoplasty (nose job) patients and 15 individuals from the general public were asked to point out the most attractive point along the range of variation. In the image below, the red arrows represent the averages preferred by the rhinoplasty patients and the blue arrows the averages preferred by the general public raters. The placements of the arrows by these two groups are statistically similar in the following image.
In each image series above, the average is in the middle. Note that the most attractive nose shape in all three manipulations is slightly toward the more feminine side of average, indicating a general preference for above average femininity in the nose profile of women. This study also showed that the ideal nose profile did not vary between the rhinoplasty patients and general public raters assessed.
Reference
- Pearson DC, Adamson PA. The ideal nasal profile: rhinoplasty patients vs the general public. Arch Facial Plast Surg. Jul-Aug 2004;6(4):257-262.