Evaluating the respective weights of some facial signs on perceived ages in differently aged women of five ethnic origins

Abstract

Background: New gratification assessments, after skincare routines or makeup products, could benefit from innovative methods that could predict the culturally based perceptions of age. Aims: To determine the facial signs that most influence the perception of age in women of five different ethnic ancestries, assessed by the same ethnical naïve panel. Patients/Methods: The faces of 1351 women, differently aged (18-80 years), from five countries (China, France, India, Japan, and South Africa) were photographed under the same standardized conditions in the five countries. Fourteen to 24 facial signs (grouped under five clusters, ie, Wrinkles/Texture, Ptosis/Sagging, Pigmentation disorders, Vascular disorders, and Cheeks skin pores) were focused, and their respective severities were graded using referential Skin Aging Atlases by the same panel of 15 experts and dermatologists. Five naïve panels, all comprising 100 local women, allowed to collect the perceived age, assessed from blind-coded full-face photographs. Results: Although perceived ages and real ages were found highly correlated, their differences vary according to ethnicities, particularly among a large part of Indian and South African women, judged older by about 5 and 7 years, respectively. Results show that the clusters of Wrinkles/Texture and Ptosis/Sagging are predominant factors taken into account in almost all ethnicities, albeit at various extents, reaching almost 100% in French women. Pigmentation disorders appear important secondary factors in Japanese, South African, and Indian women. Vascular disorders, of a difficult grading in darker skin tones, were found of some impact in Japanese and Chinese women. Cheek skin pores were of minor or nil weight in the attribution of age, at the exception of South African women. Regarding facial areas which drive aging perception, it seems the upper-half face has prevalence for Chinese and Japanese women whereas the lower-half face has major importance for South African women. Conclusion: Facial traits are differently perceived as signs of aging according to unseparable ethnic ancestries and cultural factors.

Changes in facial signs due to age and their respective weights on the perception of age and skin plumpness among differently aged Korean women

“…We acknowledge that such study presents some limitations since carried out on a rather small cohort of differently aged Korean women from the very same city (Seoul indoor/outdoor activities…) as these may highly-and differentlyimpact the physiology of facial skin. 21,22 Whatsoever, in agreement with previous studies, [5][6][7] Decoding the perception of the plumpness of Korean faces in the Korean culture appears crucial in a country particularly active for emergence and growing of disruptive beauty trends that could be spread in Asian zone and Worldwide through popular media, iconic styles, and cultural exportations (TV dramas, K-Pop…). Skin plumpness-close in the consumer's minds of visible hydration-is significantly correlated to PA and is significantly linked with facial signs and clinical clusters.…”

“…The intimate notion of an aging face likely varies according to gender-related cultures or habits. As compared to previous data obtained on Chinese and Japanese women,7 the PA of Korean women present comparable data with Japanese women with same…”

“…When the same picture was presented twice at random, the average divergence in gradings never exceed 0.1 unit. It is worth noting that in previous studies, using the same 15 experts, [1][2][3][4]7 showed that the average divergence between their assessments never exceeded 0.3 grading units.…”

“…5,6 These comprise an exhaustive worldwide mapping for women of different ethnic origins linking perceived age by a corpus of some 20 facial signs. 7 In the latter, interesting differences were observed between Chinese and Japanese women. Whether these findings could apply to other countries became a logical continuation of such approach.…”

Changes in the eye contour signs due to age among Mexican women: Comparison with women of other ethnic origins

“…Table 4 gathers data previously published on women of different ancestries [3–9, 12–14, 18–23]. These included 3240 women (Caucasian: 600; Chinese: 990; Japanese: 1010; Indian: 300; African: 340) on which some signs of ocular contours were graded; the results on Mexican women were added to this table.…”