Asymmetric (uneven) Face

I have the same prob. I am always afraid of taking pics with friends. I look fine from the sides, but due to sleeping for many yrs on one side of my face, it is "flattened" and appears longer than the other.

Everyday, I feel ugly if I take a picture close up where the asymmetry can be seen.


I do have one answer for you: if the camera is too close to you it rounds out your face from the circular lens. However, if your whole face fits in the image and you still see problems, that's the way it really is. The camera pics display differences in depth of your facial structure more clearly with higher contrast. That's why it's easy to tell asymmetry in them.


So what are you going to do about it? I need to check with a specialist first. It might be that the pressed in cheekbone makes my face look long or that the chin really is too long. So, either a chin reduction or some way to unflatten the cheekbone would be my solution.

I hear you guys, I wonder if it's just me being too self-conscious or what. Keep us posted about what you find as possible solutions.

Jeffrey

Strangely enough, I avoided sleeping on the side of my face and it has become a lot better. I only had a slight asymmetry comparatively though.

I have the same exact issue I know for a fact that my face is asymetric and I would love to have corrective surgery
it bothers me very much alot of ppl say its not a big deal and they dont notice it until I mention it but I hate taking pictures because of it

I seem the have the same problem, it also bothers me, I was wondering if there is any solutions? Basically, the muscles on one side of my face seem to be thinner and weaker than the other side? I'm trying to eat on one side of my face to strengthen the muscle but I have no idea whether its working or not, if it is, its very slight increases. Are there any methods to strengthen the muscle on one side so it buldges out a little bit more and becomes more definable?

The muscles which are weaker are the masseter which is basically the muscle lieing on your jaw beneath the ear.

Any comments are helpful, thanks

i have the same problem. with a mirror in front of me, and another held on the side I can clearly see what makes my face uneved, similar to what i see in some pictures. its almost like all mentioned above, the mucle that wraps the lower jaw bone (below the ear) seems to be thinner than that of the other side. making my face look asymmetric. On the side where the muscle is thicker, my lower lip is also thicker which makes it even more noticeable. No one ever notices though, just me.

Hi,
Similar deal for me too, the right side of my face is noticeably longer than the left. It happened, judging from photos, between the age of 12-present (I'm 23 now). I wouldn't mind except that the right side of my chin protudes lower than the left, the left side of my chin is lumpy and has receded into my jaw, and it is of course quite noticeable, at least to me. This wouldn't matter except that it FEELS wrong. Also, I am paranoid whenever I am talking to someone front on that they are noticing and trying not to look. A silly fear, I know, but I can't help it. I also loathe being photographed, but enough about mild psychological discomfort, I am very curious why this has happened, and if it is fixable. I would definitely consider correction were it possible.

I think I always chewed on my right side as a child for some reason. Recently, despite being fully grown and it probably being far too late to make a difference, I've started chewing only on my left to compensate (my teeth don't meet properly like the right side so it's not very efficient), the left side of my chin has started to ache though so I'm wondering if this is the wisest thing to do. Cloudstrife's suggestion of always sleeping on one side is new to me, but I think I sleep pretty evenly (who can know for sure though).

blkxi said: Does anyone have an explanation why I look hideous in pictures and double mirrors, yet cute in "real life"?

I suspect because real life usually is in motion, and your irregularities are minor enough that people don't notice until you're dead still. The first time I had any knowledge of my own facial wonkiness was when someone pointed it out to me in my learner's license photo when i was 16. only when seen front on was the irregular chin shape noticeable, prior to that time even I had not noticed, although now that i think of it when I was 14 a physio said to me "you probably don't know this yourself, but the right side of your face is longer than the left one". of course, it's gotten a lot worse since then.

Anyway, apologies for long post.

Chris.

i was born with an assymetric face where standing in front of a two way mirror my face looks like it's been stretched to the right side. i was sent to a maxillofacial and oral surgeon and my doctor from that department diagnosed me with golden har syndrome. it turns out that my left jaw is longer than my right jaw so it looks like the way it is because the left jaw gets stretched more to the right side because it's longer. i had corrective surgery when i was in 5th grade where they took a small portion of my collarbone and connected it to my right jaw to even it out. it didn't come out to a success because years later my left jaw grew more so i had another surgery my during my junior year of high school to fuse my right jaw joints while adding a small portion of my rib. and so far my face has become very symmetrical but since my jaws are not very defined i don't have any jaw lines which makes me look like i'm fat if i just have a headshot. but so far so good.

Whats the easiest way to correct an uneven face.

I have the same problem. I sleep on the right side of my face growing up. Not sure if its really the cause of my asymetrical face. My jaw line is clearer in the left side, while on the right its not visible. The left side have bones seems fully develop while the right seems flatter.

Does anyone know of facial bones still develops at age 23? I've been sleeping on my back for a month now, wondering if it will do some changes, even small changes.

Im soososos happy to hear that I'm not alone!!! My right lower jaw is lower and more thicker than my left and it looks so grotesque. Also, my right face is wider and my eye kinda sticks out more. (It is not a thyroid problem with the eye bulging). I shouldn't care... but since I'm a perfectionist It really really irritates me. ((( Hopefully when i get my braces my bite will straighten out and so will my jaw. I'm wondering if the uneveness is maybe due to some other underlying condition....

This is more common than i first thought. In every case its the right side aswell :s. Im 15 and started noticing this about a year ago, i seem to be the only one that notices but i get paranoid at times and feel like people do notice and are being polite in a strange way ;s. I dont want to point it out to any of my mates because if they dont already notice i dont wanna make them notice lol... People say im a good looking lad, i get comments at school with boys saying they're jealous of my looks and say that i can get most girls looking like i do but i dont know if theyre taking the piss or being serious lol. I have to admit im not the sort of person that gets down but at times this seriously gets me depressed. Im quite a shy lad anyways but everytime i look in the mirror i can feel my confidence drain a little more. It does comfort me knowing im not the only one going through this x thanks to who ever started this post.

is surgery really possible?

I am very very surprised that alot of people actually suffer the same inside pain as I do. I am quite a normal to good looking person who studies hair, beauty and fashion design. Since the age of 15, i have been starting to notice my face twitching towards one side. I feel as if I only use the left side of my jaw muscles and i swollow etc on one side. Eventually I am now 20 turning 21 and am seeking for help for my face because things are getting more severe. The right side of my face seems really puffed ( i never use this side) and my left side is shortened which would pull my whole jaw to the left side. Not many people notice it, but what hurts me the most is when I take pictures. I have a very bright sweet smile, but it is ruined by this assymetry of the face. My smile would twitch towards my left side and causing my whole chin or lower jaw to just look really bad. It becomes very very obvious when I take pictures and I just hate it. What's even worst is my talking ability impaired! my lips/jaw would twitch to one side too when i speak and because the teeth are not properly aligned i would sound as if i have the lisp.

Right now I am seeking for help going to a Neuromuscular Dentist. I have popping sounds in my left jaw joint and It has been proven that I only use the left side of my jaw muscle when i talk, bite or swollow. Neuromuscular dentist is a form of cosmetic dentist that deals with TMJ problems. In order to cure you must balance out the muscles of the two side of your jaws. I suggest most of you guys to go to the TMJ forum to take a look since the assymetry of the face has much got to do with misaligned teeth and horrible bite.

And I thought I was the only one in the world...

I'm 19. Two years ago I started getting vain. Very vain. People would tell me I was very good looking, "super cute," and yet whenever I had my photograph taken I was hideous (I'm harsh to myself). I also succumbed to the "true" mirror -- two panes positioned at 90 degrees -- and saw a completely different image from what I was seeing head-on. And it sucked!

Since then I've always looked at each side of my face and wondered why one was attractive and the other, horrendous. It bugs me every day, and I've since figured out that the left side of my face is higher than my right, and my jaw is less defined (doesn't protrude as far).

Half of my says that I need to get over this, and just be happy with what I have... but the other part of me, which I'm scared to say may be the stronger half, tells me I need to have it corrected or I'll never be pleased with myself. I still keep looking in the mirror, every day, playing with the "ugly" half of my face to see what changes would need to be made.

At least I'm not alone!

It's great to find a discussion about this. I had a vague sense that something was ugly about me when I was younger, but never could figure out what it was, and so sometimes though maybe I was mistaken. Like many of you, it was a double mirror that revealed the secret, and even then, it did not happen right away - I really had to look a long time and examine it. I thought at first maybe I just had the mirrors at a bad angle to each other or something.

Mirrors and lenses do play tricks on us in a sense. It's because the human brain, a very powerful organ, likes patterns and it like symmetry, and when we look at an asymmetric face, it generally somehow rounds things out and we just don't notice. At most there might be a vague impression that something's off or the person is just not good looking, but often there isn't even that. I told someone once that my face was asymmetrical, but he still couldn't see it when he looked.

BUT when we look with two mirrors, and see something an image unlike what we've ever seen before and unlike what we're expecting to see, the brain is thrown off. Anything that protruded in one direction now protrudes in the opposite direction, a 180° change. It's quite different, and though it may try, the brain can't cover that up so easily. We can finally see our face for what it is. The joke is that that's what everyone else sees when they look at us anyway, and what seems so strange to us is actually normal to them (and consequently they see THAT as symmetrical). And of course we're seeing this same reversed image when we look at a photograph of ourselves. (Plus, I think when we look at a person in real life, most of our focus is on the the center of the face, the eyes and facial expressions, rather than the whole frame itself. We look at still images differently.) If you wanted to prove to someone else (not that you would) that your face was assymetrical, if photos didn't work, you'd probably best start by having them look at your face reflected in one mirror, which is normal for you but not for them.

Since I broke through this barrier of the brain, I've come to be able to see it looking at one mirror as well, and to see it in other people I face, without any mirrors. My brain's been trained out of its complacency ... and I don't think I'm the better for it. I wonder if good artists can see this more readily than others. How could you draw an accurate portrait if you're just following your brain and not perceiving what's really there?

I could be wrong, but I very seriously doubt that this has any cause as innocent as sleeping on one side or the other. The shape of the face is mostly determined by genetics, and is bone really that malleable? I also think that we'd see it in a lot more people than we do if that were that cause. And for another thing, I notice the exact facial line in my father. It kills me that even if I get surgery to even out my face, if I ever have kids, I'll pass this on to them regardless. The one thing I could do to help them would be to not have any double mirrors set up in the house so they remain in blissful ignorance.

I just realized, after examining my face some more, that it's completely hopeless. The whole vertical axis that my nose and mouth are on is skewed slightly to the left. (That's even aside from the asymmetrical jaw; my right eyebrow, and maybe the bone under it, which goes up a little higher than the left; and the top of my skull, where the incline on the left is steeper than on the right and goes up a little higher as well.) I don't think there's any surgery in the world that can fix that, so I guess I'm in the wrong forum. Now where can I get a skull transplant?

Hi guys. Everyone and I mean EVERYONE's faces are not totally symmetric. Of course some are more asymmetric than others. If no one really notices it though chances are that your face looks "normal" enough. Lenses and mirrors do add to the distortion so if possible do stop examining your face too much because it will just make you feel bad, especially if you use multiple mirrors, which will just distort it even more.

If you really believe that your face is too asymmetrical then I suggest you get advice from several people you really trust and ask for their honest opinion. If they say that you look good then you do! If they have to really scrutinize you to see the distortion then it isn't really obvious.

there's an exhibit i've seen in science museums where it shows you your face the way that everyone else sees it. that's the mirro to how you are used to seeing it. well, it looks very assymetrical to *EVERYONE*, that's why its an interesting exhibit!

even a slight curve that you don't notice normally, you are used to, will look twice as exaggerated when viewed curving the opposite way.

the way that you are used to your face - everyone else is used to your face looking the other way, to the same degree. they don't think anything looks wrong! its not wrong - in fact if you would look at someone else's face reversed it might look a little odd to you as well.

its perfectly normal, and the 'ugliness' is just surprise. you aren't ugly, especially if people are telling you you look cute.

one of my eyes is open more than another, my face seems to curve to the left, etc etc. people say i'm cute, and i believe them. it only looks weird because its the mirror of the face that you see the most, up close, all the time - your own.

holy #$@*! yah, this same thing has tormented me since i first saw a photo of myself ten years ago. it has gotten so bad that i am constantly trying to stay on the side of people where my left side shows and will never take photos if it's to the right. my mom for one doesn't see it but with the double mirror test, my right eye is significantly higher than the other and everything looks like a bad acid trip. stretched out like elephant man. ugly, i mean. all the while, most including my dad say i'm very handsome, but there are those that notice it, and it is the reason i don't even bother talking to attractive women and have since developed a drinking problem.