How symmetrical is your face?

A free face symmetry test that compares 478 facial landmarks left to right and scores how closely your face mirrors itself, right in your browser.

What the face symmetry test measures

The face symmetry test at faceshapetest.app is a free, browser-based tool that scores how closely the left and right sides of your face mirror each other. It reads 478 points across your face with MediaPipe Face Landmarker, running entirely on your device. The photo never leaves your device.

The result is a symmetry score from 0 to 100. A perfect 100 would mean a face that mirrors itself exactly across its centre line. No real face reaches that, since every face carries some natural asymmetry between its two sides.

Alongside the overall number, the test reports five regional scores built from the same landmarks: eyes, brows, nose, mouth, and jaw and cheeks. That breakdown shows which part of your face carries the most left-right difference, rather than leaving you with one flat number.

A lower score in one region, rather than everywhere, usually points to something specific, like a hairstyle covering one brow or a habitual head tilt in the photo, rather than a broad pattern across your whole face.

People run a face symmetry test for plenty of reasons: simple curiosity, comparing photos over time, or checking a photo before using it somewhere public. None of those reasons requires treating the number as a verdict on your face.

This facial symmetry test is one part of a larger scan. The same photo also produces your face shape, an attractiveness score that uses this symmetry reading as one input, and your canthal tilt.

How the score is calculated

The test draws a midline down the middle of your face, running from a landmark at the mid-forehead to a landmark at the chin. Fifteen pairs of left and right landmarks are then compared against that line, one on each side, for how closely they mirror each other.

For each pair, the test measures how far the two points sit from a true mirror image, then averages that mismatch across all fifteen pairs. The result is normalized by cheekbone width, so the score does not depend on how close you stood to the camera or how large your face appears in the frame.

Head roll and yaw are corrected for before any of this runs, so a small, natural tilt does not get scored as asymmetry. A meaningfully turned head still lowers the score, because a turned face genuinely looks less mirrored in the photo, whatever the correction removes.

The eyes region compares the outer corner, inner corner, and both eyelids on each side. Brows compare three points along each brow, capturing height and arch. Nose compares the position of the two nostril edges, and mouth compares the two corners.

Jaw and cheeks, the largest region by landmark count, spans jaw corners, cheekbones, temples, cheeks, and the side of the jaw.

These five regions use the same fifteen pairs that produce the overall score, just grouped so you can see where most of the left-right difference sits.

What is a normal symmetry score?

There is no pass or fail line on a facial symmetry test like this one, but scores do fall into fairly predictable bands. Most people, in a clean frontal photo, land in the typical to very symmetric range.

None of these bands is a judgment of your face. A score below 70 is common, and it far more often reflects a turned head, a smile, or uneven lighting than an unusual face. The checklist further down this page covers how to rule the photo out first.

A score in the 90s usually reflects a clean, well-lit, straight-on photo more than an unusually symmetric face. Real anatomical differences between the two sides tend to move the number by only a few points, while photo issues alone can move it by ten or more.

Why no face is symmetrical

Every human face is asymmetric to some degree. Studies of healthy adults typically find measured left-right differences of only a few percent of face width, but that small amount is close to universal. A face with zero measurable asymmetry essentially does not exist.

A difference of two or three percent of face width is common and unremarkable. It is usually not something you would notice by eye across a room, only something a precise, landmark-based measurement like this one can pick up reliably.

Much of that asymmetry is directional, meaning one side is consistently a little larger or sits a little differently, rather than random from person to person. Years of sleeping on one side, chewing more on one side, or orthodontic and dental history all nudge things in a consistent direction over time.

Sun exposure that falls unevenly across the years adds to this too, and ageing tends to add more of it, not less.

None of this is a flaw. It is simply how faces develop and wear over a lifetime, and it shows up in a facial symmetry test the same way it shows up in a mirror, just measured more precisely.

The photo itself adds another, separate layer. An off-centre camera, a wide-angle lens held close, light falling more on one side than the other, and a smile, which is rarely symmetric even on a symmetric face, can all shift the score without your actual face changing at all.

Symmetry and attractiveness, what the research actually says

Facial symmetry is one of the more talked-about ideas in attractiveness research, and also one of the more overstated in popular coverage. The real picture is more modest than the headlines suggest.

Studies going back decades find a genuine link between symmetry and attractiveness ratings, but it is a weak to moderate one (Perrett et al., 1999; Rhodes, 2006). It shows up mainly when averaged across large groups of faces, rather than as a strong rule for any individual.

Averageness and skin quality track attractiveness ratings about as strongly, sometimes more so.

One striking finding cuts against the idea that more symmetry is simply better. When researchers build perfectly mirrored composite faces, by combining a face with its own reflection, the results often look strange or uncanny rather than more attractive.

A small, natural amount of asymmetry reads as normal. A face with none of it does not.

Treat a symmetry score as one measurement among several, not a verdict. Expression, grooming, skin, hair and how someone carries themselves shape a real impression far more than any single number from a photo.

This is worth keeping in mind if a symmetry score comes back lower than you expected. It says very little about how attractive you are to people who actually see you day to day, in motion, talking and expressing yourself.

Why your flipped face looks wrong

Most people have had the experience of seeing a straight, unflipped photo of their own face and feeling that something is slightly off, even though nothing about the photo is wrong. This is sometimes called the flipped face effect, and it has a simple explanation.

You see your own face in a mirror every single day, and mirrors reverse left and right. Over years, your brain builds its most familiar model of your face from that reversed version, not the version everyone else actually sees.

A phone's front camera, a straight photograph, or a video call usually shows you the un-flipped version instead.

Because no face is perfectly symmetric, the flipped and unflipped versions are not identical images, just mirror images of each other. The small real differences between your two sides become visible in a new arrangement, and that mismatch against your mental model is what reads as strange, even though both versions are equally accurate.

This is also why mirror-selfie apps and the flipped-face trend on TikTok tend to surprise people. Nobody is more or less symmetric in one version. The camera has simply shown a familiar face from an unfamiliar direction.

How to get an accurate reading

A handful of photo choices move a measured symmetry score by several points, independent of your actual face. Getting these right matters more than anything about your anatomy.

Most of this applies to any photo-based measurement, but it matters more here, since the score depends on the precise position of matching landmarks on both sides of your face at once.

• Face the camera straight on, without turning or tilting your head.
• Hold the camera at eye level, not above or below.
• Use a neutral, relaxed expression rather than a smile, since smiles are rarely symmetric.
• Light your face evenly from the front, avoiding a shadow that falls more on one side.
• Avoid a close-up phone selfie. A front camera held at arm's length uses a wide-angle lens that distorts one side more than the other.
• Pull hair back off your forehead, brows and jawline so the landmark model can find them.

The test flags a photo as slightly turned once yaw passes 12 degrees or roll passes 8 degrees, and asks for a retake past 25 degrees of yaw or 20 degrees of roll. Staying well under those numbers gives the model a cleaner set of landmarks and a more accurate reading.

Can you improve facial symmetry?

The photo moves a symmetry score more than anything else, so a straight, evenly lit, head-on shot is the single biggest lever available. Beyond the photo, a few habits can shift how symmetric a face actually reads to a camera or to another person.

An even hair part, rather than one pushed heavily to one side, keeps hair from covering more of one side of the face than the other. Neatly and evenly shaped brows help too, since brow shape is one of the regions this test measures directly.

Standing with your shoulders and chin level, rather than habitually tilting your head one way, also helps a photo read as more mirrored.

None of these change your underlying bone structure, which is fixed by adulthood and not something grooming or posture can alter. If you notice sudden new asymmetry that was not there before, especially affecting movement on one side of your face, that is worth mentioning to a doctor rather than a photo checklist.

Frequently asked questions

What is a normal face symmetry test score?

Most decent frontal photos score somewhere between 80 and 95. No real face reaches 100, since a perfect mirror image does not exist in nature. Scores below 70 are common too, and usually trace back to the photo, a turned head, a slight smile, or uneven light, rather than to your face itself.

Does facial asymmetry mean something is wrong?

No. Every face is asymmetric to some degree, and small, steady differences between the two sides are completely normal. Years of sleeping on one side, chewing on one side, or sun exposure can nudge things further. Sudden new asymmetry that was not there before is different, and worth mentioning to a doctor.

Why does my score change between photos?

Head angle moves the score more than your face actually changes day to day. A few degrees of yaw or roll, a phone held too close, an off-centre camera, or a smile, which is rarely symmetric, can shift a handful of landmarks and change the number without anything else being different.

Is a symmetrical face more attractive?

Research finds a real but modest link between symmetry and attractiveness ratings, on average across large groups of faces. It is not a strong predictor for any one face. Averageness, skin quality, expression and grooming tend to matter just as much, and computer-mirrored, perfectly symmetric composites often look uncanny rather than ideal.

Why does my flipped face look different from my normal face?

You see your own face in a mirror every day, so your brain treats that reversed version as the normal one. A straight photo, or someone else's phone camera, shows the un-flipped version instead. Because your face is not perfectly symmetric, the two versions genuinely look like slightly different people to you.

Can I improve my facial symmetry score?

A straight, evenly lit, head-on photo raises the score more than anything about your actual face. Beyond the photo, grooming habits like an even hair part and neatly shaped brows can make a real difference to how symmetric a face reads. For anything beyond that, talk to a qualified professional rather than chasing a number.

References

• Rhodes, G. (2006). The Evolutionary Psychology of Facial Beauty. Annual Review of Psychology, 57, 199-226.
• Perrett, D. I., Burt, D. M., Penton-Voak, I. S., Lee, K. J., Rowland, D. A., & Edwards, R. (1999). Symmetry and human facial attractiveness. Evolution and Human Behavior, 20(5), 295-307.
• Farkas, L. G. Anthropometry of the Head and Face. Raven Press. Standard reference for classical facial proportion canons.