INTRODUCTION: In 2014, a population analysis of the ‘perfect breast’ identified that an upper-to-lower pole ratio of 45:55 was deemed the most attractive of four Caucasian women’s breast proportions, as ranked by 1,315 members of the public.1 However, no other studies to date have confirmed these findings; furthermore, we do not know to what extent this may extend to women of other ethnicities. The aim of this study is to analyze preferred breast proportions in a larger, more ethnically-diverse panel of women, to inform the definition of an aesthetic ideal breast and aid surgical planning.
METHODS: In January 2017, a survey was distributed via a Crowdsourcing platform to members of the general population, who were asked to rank the attractiveness of images of fifteen women’s breasts (three Caucasian, three Black, three South Asian, three East Asian and three Hispanic). The right breast was changed into four different upper-to-lower pole ratios (35:65, 45:55, 55:45 and 55:45, as per previous study), creating one panel. Photographs were standardized (angle, background, left breast obscured) and panels displayed in random sequence within the survey. Respondent demographics were also collected.
RESULTS: There were 407 respondents. The majority of respondents were male (63.1%) and Caucasian (48.9%), with a mean age of 34.7 years. The majority were from North America (56.3%), followed by Asia (34.6%). Overall, the majority of respondents (33.9%) expressed preference for an upper-to-lower pole ratio of 50:50; this was followed by 55:45 (26.4%), 45:55 (24.9%) and 35:55 (14.8%). When subcategorized by ethnicity of women in the panel, the preference for 50:50 persisted in the South Asian and Black panels; but was 55:45 in the Caucasian and Hispanic panels, 45:55 in the East Asian panel.
CONCLUSION: These results do not support previous literature suggesting a preference for 45:55 breast proportions; the next most popular choice in the previous study was 50:50, which our results highlight as being overall preference in the present study cohort.1 Surgical planning should maintain a flexible approach when considering aesthetic ideals.
Reference Citations:
1. Mallucci P, Branford O. Population Analysis of the Perfect Breast: A Morphometric Analysis. Plast Reconstr Surg. 2014;134:436–47.