Israeli scientists think you look OK, but you could look a lot better, something they intend to rectify with special computer software which 'fixes' pictures of a person’s face based on proved innate human preferences.
Studies carried out in the past have shown that when a person’s eyes are of a certain shape and distance apart, their nose is of a certain length and their lips are of a certain curve, others find their face more attractive.
Professor Dani Lischinksi of the Hebrew University in Jerusalem explained his boffins had found a mathematical model which applied principles of beauty to what we can only guess is some sort of Photoshop plug-in to fixes ugly mugs.
The software makes tiny, yet incredibly effective changes to a face without changing it completely, meaning that a person’s slightly crooked nose, may still remain crooked for example, but other aspects of the face would be enhanced.
Now all the scientists have to do is figure out how to cash in on the results.
"It remains to be seen whether women would simply use the improved image as a guide to more effective makeup application or whether people take it to a plastic surgeon and say: ‘Make me look like that’" said Lischinksi.
Lischinski also admits that "beauty is in the eye of the beholder" and that rather than create a world of perfect faces, the programme only tries to “improve the perceived attractiveness of the face but in a manner that tries to change it as little as possible".
So far, trials have been getting mixed reviews, with some women admitting they don’t prefer their new and improved, aesthetically modified faces, although trials on random anonymous faces have proven that modified faces are perceived to be more attractive.
Other women object to the software, claiming it would just distress them to see perfected versions of their face, with one noting, "It's impossible and it's unethical and it will just make you upset."
Only if you can’t afford the surgery, eh?
Reuters