The purpose of this study was to develop a psychometric scale to measure dissatisfaction with one’s face. In Study 1, 1,002 people aged 17–42 years using a 7-point Likert scale for a draft scale. Exploratory factor analysis revealed that the scale consisted of 27 items and a 3-factor structure (Avoidance, Fear, and Obsessive thinking), named Face Dissatisfaction Scale (FDS). Study 2 examined sex differences in dissatisfaction with the face and body. The results showed that females were more dissatisfied with faces than males; however, there was no sex difference in body dissatisfaction. Males were more dissatisfied with bodies than faces; however, there was no difference in females. We found that face dissatisfaction was positively associated with dysmorphic concerns and obsessive-compulsive tendencies. Moreover, the FDS showed high goodness-of-fit, reliability, and validity. The study suggests that FDS is a useful psychometric tool to seek unsatisfied people with their faces.

Previous studies have shown that individuals visually recognize their eye size as larger than the actual. However, it is unclear whether this cognitive tendency occurs in people with high self-face dissatisfaction. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate whether the cognitive size of one's own and others’ eyes differs according to the degree of self-face dissatisfaction. Participants comprised 32 college students (5 males, 27 females; age: 21.3 ± 2.11) who completed the Face Dissatisfaction Scale (FDS) and a face recognition memory task. The task was to choose whether their or their friends’ eyes in the face photos with changed eye size were larger or smaller than their actual eye size. The cognitively equivalent eye size to the actual one was estimated from a psychophysical function. We conducted a correlation analysis of the total scores on the FDS and the point of subjective equality (PSE) of eye size. We found a high negative correlation between the FDS and the PSE of own eye size. There was also a high positive correlation between the FDS and the PSE for all others’ faces. Thus, high self-face dissatisfaction is differentially associated with cognitive distortions of the face, depending on whether it is self or other.

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