The ES Ratio [The Magnum Guide]


Ratios are the most common way to measure facial attractiveness. Multiple ratios measure some aspect of facial aesthetics. One of these ratios is the ES ratio. This article will go over the ES ratio and what you need to determine your ES ratio.

ES ratio stands for the Eye Separation ratio. To get the ES ratio, you will need to divide your IPD (interpupillary distance) with your bizygomatic width, which is the widest part of the face. The ideal range for the ES ratio is 0.45-0.47. 

The ES ratio is a more reliable way to measure whether the eyes are too close together or too far apart than just the IPD. It certainly is more reliable than the age-old trick of using a third eye to fit into the space between your eyes.

The eye separation ratio is useful not only in determining the ideal distance between the eyes. It is also a helpful metric for telling if a face is attractive or not. On top of that, there are research papers that studied the claims of the ideal ES ratio. 

For example, this study by Pallet et al. (2010) analyzed a certain image. The researchers modified the image to different proportions. They then studied how people reacted to the images and which one looked the most attractive to most people. As it turns out, the ideal eye separation ratio of the attractive faces was about 0.46, a number that is within the normal range for the ES ratio.

Some people say that an ES ratio below 0.45 is an acceptable ratio. There are many attractive celebrities with an ES ratio of below that number. However, the consensus is that anything below 0.42 would be disastrous to the overall facial aesthetics.

Interpupillary Distance

To fully understand how to determine the ES ratio, you have to determine the IPD or the interpupillary distance.

As the name implies, the IPD is the measurement used to measure the distance between the two eye pupils. This is not the space between the eyes. The interpupillary distance is all about the space between the centers of the two eyes.

While interpupillary distance is a useful tool in facial aesthetics, it also has applications in eye solutions. Getting corrective or assistive eyewear is not a simple go to the store kind of thing. There are also other things to consider. IPD is one of them. With the proper use of the measurement, the patient will have a more comfortable time with the eyewear. However, IPD or PD is not always necessary in every eye examination.

If the glasses’ lens doesn’t align with the eyes’ center, it could cause eye strain or headaches. And if you ever had glasses, you’d know that headaches are real when it comes to eye issues. 

Zygomatic Width

In simple terms, zygomatic width (or bizygomatic width) is the widest part of the face. The zygomatic area of the face is where you can find your cheekbones. 

Zygomatic RegionZygomatic width is the distance from the two ends of your cheekbones, the widest part of your face. This metric is important because there needs to be a balancing figure when measuring eye separation. The IPD alone is not enough because it doesn’t take facial harmony into account. Because every face and eye size is different, your eye separation may not be that big. It could even be well within the average standard.

However, that all means nothing if you have a wide face to begin with. A normal distance between the eyes will not look great if there the facial width is too large. Hence, there is a need for the ratio.

The Ideal ES Ratio

As previously mentioned, the ideal ES ratio ranges from 0.45 to 0.47. If your eye separation ratio is within that range, then you can rest assured. Here are a couple of examples of what an ideal ES ratio will look like.

Sean O’Pry is a good example of a face that has the ideal eye separation. The space between his eyes looks just right for the width of his face. However, even a little change would already stray beyond the acceptable 0.45-0.47 range. But that does not mean that going beyond those numbers makes a face unattractive.

It is still a relatively loose range, and there is room for marginal errors. For example, Sean O’Pry may no longer have a perfect ES ratio if his measurements were not exactly like they are. But, very little changes are not likely to completely mess up his attractive appearance. 

There is a lot of wiggle room when it comes to estimating the ideal ES ratio. However, it is probably safe to say that the ES ratio should not go beyond 0.42. If it goes above 0.5, your eyes start to look too far apart. 

However, far apart eyes can look attractive too, for example, in the case of Anya Taylor Joy:

Her ES ratio is well above 0.5 and her IPD is huge, which would normally look uncanny. But it works for her because her eyes are so big. She can still fit an eye’s width in between her two eyes and has a harmonious face. Plus, she frequently wears wide hairstyles that make her face look wider, offsetting the IPD width.

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