Symmetry of facial features is an essential criterion for the attractiveness of a person. Asymmetries in this identity-forming area are often perceived negatively, and in many cases the restoration of severely damaged facial areas is also indispensable from a medical point of view. With the method presented here, facial symmetries can be objectively recorded using a three-dimensional grid model consisting of a combination of different feature points. Two-dimensional as well as three-dimensional pathways on the surface of the face can thus be represented spatially. Within the scope of this work, the area enclosed between a two-dimensional path and the three-dimensional surface was also determined. The three-dimensional grid mask was developed on the basis of a puppet model and tested on normal-symmetrical test persons and asymmetrical patients. The system offers practical applications for surgery planning and simulation in the complex facial region and optimizes the evaluation of treatment results.

Dr. Judith Ludwig, born 1979, lives in Munich. She received her doctorate at the Technical University of Munich on the topic of three-dimensional measurement of facial asymmetries. She is currently writing another dissertation at the University of Cambridge in the Department of Philosophy on the scientific investigation of beauty.