Perception of Anatomical Nasal Variants Among Lay Observers: Clinical Insights from an Eye-Tracking Study

Area of Science:

• Ophthalmology
• Psychology
• Plastic Surgery

Background:

• Facial appearance significantly impacts social perception.
• Laypersons primarily focus on the central facial triangle.
• Nasal variations may influence gaze patterns, but this is understudied.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate how layperson gaze patterns change when viewing different nasal variations.
• To quantify visual attention shifts using eye-tracking technology.

Main Methods:

• A prospective cohort study involving 119 participants.
• 30 digitally altered nasal phenotypes were created and presented alongside controls.
• Eye-tracking captured gaze data, analyzed using linear mixed-effects modeling.

Main Results:

• Only the saddle nose significantly increased gaze time compared to controls (mean increase: 0.89 s; p < 0.001).
• Participant demographics (age, sex) and image characteristics (gender) did not significantly affect gaze behavior.

Conclusions:

• The saddle nose uniquely attracts greater visual attention from lay observers.
• This finding highlights the specific impact of certain nasal variations on facial perception.