Cheekbone prominence: how structure reads

What cheekbone prominence is

Cheekbone prominence describes how much your cheekbones stand out: how much the face narrows below them, and how much shadow they cast on the cheek beneath. Like jaw definition it is a score from 0 to 100 rather than a ratio, because it blends geometry with the way light falls on your face.

Cheekbones are part bone and part soft tissue. The bone sets the structure, and the fat pad and fluid around it decide how much of that structure shows. That is why the score responds to lighting, expression and body composition as well as to anatomy.

How LookFlex measures it

LookFlex measures the taper of the face under the cheekbones: how much narrower the cheek hollow is than the cheekbone width, combined with how much the jaw tapers. That gives a geometric score. It then compares the brightness on the top of the cheekbone with the brightness in the hollow just below it, relative to local brightness, so it works on any skin tone.

The shadow cue can carry up to 60% of the score, and only when the photo supports it. Flat or one-sided lighting, poor exposure and heavy facial hair lower its weight, and LookFlex then shows a lower confidence.

The calculation: score = geometric malar taper (cheek hollow vs cheekbone width, jaw taper), blended with a sub-malar shadow cue (up to 60%).

Landmarks used

LookFlex reads these points from the 478-landmark face mesh. The numbers are each point's index in that mesh.

• Widest points of the face at eye level: 234, 454
• Cheek hollow points: 132, 361
• Jaw-angle points: 58, 288
• Cheekbone highlight and hollow beneath (shadow sampling): 117, 123, 50, 118, 187, 213, 192, 147

The full pipeline, including how pose and mirror-averaging reduce noise, is on how LookFlex measures your face.

Typical and scoring ranges

LookFlex shows two ranges. The typical range is the middle half of its reference set, from the 25th to the 75th percentile: half of the faces fell inside it. The scoring range is where a reading earns a closeness score of 100; outside it the score falls smoothly, with no cliff at the edge. The scoring range is the same for everyone, while the typical range follows each group's own median. Unit: score from 0 to 100.

How to read your result

"The range" here means the scoring range. The impressions below are common styling descriptions, not research findings. What research does show is in the next section.

• Below the range: The cheeks read full and soft. Body composition changes how much structure shows (Coetzee et al., 2010), and softly directional light shows more of it in photos.
• Inside the range: Cheekbone prominence sits inside the scoring range.
• Above the range: Very defined cheekbones. The scoring range runs up to 100, so any value above its lower bound scores as in range.

What the research says

Limited evidence Little research tests cheekbone prominence directly; it depends on soft tissue and light as well as bone.

• Among 42 celebrities, men had wider jaws and cheekbones than women, in a small, non-diverse sample (Liu et al., 2023).
• Apparent facial fat tracks body fat (Coetzee et al., 2009), which changes how much cheek structure shows.
• A small uncontrolled pilot found slightly fuller cheeks after 20 weeks of facial exercises in middle-aged women (Alam et al., 2018). Larger trials are needed.

No study we cite tests LookFlex's own ranges. They come from the calibration described on the methodology page, and every source is listed under References below.

What influences it

Mostly fixed

• How far the cheekbone arch projects and how it is angled, which is set by genetics.
• Age, which can change the soft tissue of the cheek.

Things that move the reading

• Body composition and the fat pads in the cheek. How much fat a face appears to carry tracks body fat (Coetzee et al., 2009).
• Expression. A smile pushes the cheek up and fills the hollow, a relaxed face shows it.
• Lighting. Soft light from above and in front shows the shadow under the cheekbone, flat light removes it.
• Makeup contour or highlight, which changes how it reads in photos.

How to improve how it reads

These suggestions change how the measurement reads or how well the photo captures it. Styling tips are common practice rather than tested in research, and none of them promises a change in bone structure.

• If you want to change body composition, aim for gradual change with a balanced diet and regular strength training; the WHO advises muscle strengthening on two or more days a week (Bull et al., 2020). LookFlex does not recommend crash diets.
• Protect your skin with daily SPF 30 or higher. In one study, the authors attributed most visible facial ageing to sun exposure (Flament et al., 2013).
• For your scan, relax your face, do not smile, and face a soft light from slightly above.
• In photos, a light contour or highlight with makeup can add structure. It changes the picture, not your bones.
• Treat face yoga with realistic expectations. A small uncontrolled pilot found slightly fuller cheeks in middle-aged women after 20 weeks of facial exercises (Alam et al., 2018). The evidence is too thin to rely on, and we found no evidence that it changes bone.

Common myths

Myth: Sucking in your cheeks shows your real cheekbones.

It makes a hollow by pulling the cheek inward, and LookFlex asks for a relaxed face for that reason. A natural expression gives the number you can compare.

Myth: Cheekbones are all bone.

What you see is bone plus fat, fluid and the way light falls on them. That is why the score changes with lighting and body composition.

Myth: Procedures are the quick fix.

LookFlex does not recommend them as a first step. If you are curious, talk to a board-certified professional. The levers LookFlex suggests are body composition, sun protection and how your photos are lit.

How it feeds your score

This measurement is one input to one sub-score, which then combine into your Glow Score:

• Cheekbones: 55% of the sub-score. Cheekbones carries 12% of the Glow Score.

Precision. Every reading of this measurement comes with a 95% margin, estimated by measuring your photo three times. Across the reference set the median margin was ±2.7 points: a retake in similar conditions usually lands within that much of the first reading. A change between two scans counts as real only when it is bigger than both scans' margins combined.

Confidence. LookFlex starts this measurement at a confidence of between 45% and 85%, depending on how clearly the lighting shows the jaw or cheek edge and lowers it when your head angle, the lighting or image quality weakens the reading. The weight of each input in a sub-score scales with its confidence. Details are on the methodology page.