The Search for the Ideal Female Breast: A Nationally Representative United-States-Census Study

Introduction Many studies have started to search for the perfect aesthetic breast in order to create a pars-pro-toto for reconstruction, but especially for aesthetic surgery. To date, no representative study with anatomically accurate models was performed. Methods In an online based United-States-census-representative survey with 1049 participants, questions regarding the preferred breast were asked utilizing lifelike morphed 3D-generated female models for the first time. Attributes such as breast pole ratio, areola size, breast direction and projection were asked. Results The results show that, contrary to what has been claimed in previous studies, an upper-pole-to-lower-pole ratio of 55:45 is preferred by both female and male participants. When it comes to breast size, on the other hand, there are clear gender-specific differences. While women opted for a cup size around B, the men preferred larger cup sizes. Moreover, the smallest depicted areola size of 30 mm was favored among all groups in the survey. Discussion Most publications used rather detrimental models for their surveys. We therefore opted for computer-generated 3D models and varied their naturalness. This enabled us to ensure a more aesthetic and accurate illustration and thus obtained more comparable and reliable results paired with the representation of the US-population. Taken together this study unveiled unexpected insights into the population favored breast attributes that might change operative planning in breast surgery.

Automated summary

This study utilized lifelike morphed 3D-generated female models in an online survey with 1049 participants to investigate breast preferences. The results showed a 55:45 upper-pole-to-lower-pole ratio preference, gender-specific differences in preferred breast size, and a preference for a 30 mm areola size. The use of anatomically accurate computer-generated 3D models in this study provided more reliable and comparable results, shedding light on unexpected insights into preferred breast attributes among the population.