Artists working in both oils and marble have sought to capture the perfect human form for centuries. Not content with simply conjuring up a person’s rough approximation, committed painters and sculptors have done everything from studying live nudes to performing anatomical dissections in an effort to get the proportions right for their artworks.
In some ways, the process is very similar to what plastic surgeons go through today in their effort to create natural-looking and aesthetically pleasing breast augmentation, rhinoplasty, and other surgeries. Never content to be limited to what is currently available (knowledge and equipment), these trained and board-certified physicians are always looking to apply the best possible methods and techniques to help their patients enjoy the best possible results.
In September 2014, an article appeared in Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, the Journal of the American Society of Plastic Surgeons, highlighting the results of a study on preferred breast proportions.
The authors had already conducted their own research examining 100 models in an effort to determine the key parameters used to identify an aesthetically ideal breast. For the new study, the authors sought public opinion to, in essence, confirm their analysis.
So they gathered more than 1,300 people and asked them to rank the attractiveness of four women with different breast sizes. Each woman appeared four times in one panel, with each panel showing the same photo transformed through Photoshop to display four different proportions. The ratios of the upper pole to the lower pole were 35:65, 45:55, 50:50, and 55:45.
His bottom line? They reported that the study reaffirmed their previous findings that a 45:55 ratio has “universal appeal in defining the ideal breast.” To that end, the authors proposed that this popular ratio be used as the basis for design in cosmetic procedures such as breast augmentation.
Ninety-four percent of the plastic surgeons who participated in the study agreed, as did the majority of those surveyed, regardless of gender, age, and ethnicity: the upper pole to lower pole ratio of 45: 55 was the most aesthetically ideal. Respondents overall opined overwhelmingly on that ratio for each of the four sets of photos.
This means that a breast with a slightly fuller and rounder lower half, not a more balloon-like circular breast, stood out as the most attractive to most all demographics.
“The present study and our previous work have set out to define an esthetic template around which to plan and target all forms of cosmetic breast surgery, from reduction/mastopexy to breast augmentation and reconstruction,” the researchers wrote. authors in their discussion of the study, “Population Analysis of the Perfect Breast: A Morphometric Analysis.” Recognize that the vast majority of women (and men) seek natural beauty in the breasts rather than an oversized, full appearance.
While there may be an aesthetic ideal pointed to by the majority of respondents, the truth is that the “one-size-fits-all” approach is not appropriate for breast augmentation and reconstruction. A qualified plastic surgeon may use a generally accepted and admired ratio as a starting point, but would never apply it as a template to be used on all patients.