Cheekbones: Overrated or Actually Important?

Few facial features have had a better PR run than the cheekbone. High cheekbones are universally praised in fashion, film, and beauty culture. Models are described as having them. Contouring tutorials teach you to fake them. Fillers are injected to create them. Cheekbones are, apparently, extremely important.

Are they, though? Let's investigate.

What Cheekbones Actually Are

The zygomatic bone (cheekbone) is a facial bone that forms the prominence of the cheek and part of the eye socket. "High cheekbones" refers to zygomatic arches that are positioned higher on the face and project more laterally, creating visible definition in the midface. The appearance of cheekbones is also affected by the distribution of subcutaneous fat — lower body fat percentage makes existing cheekbones more visible.

Cheekbone structure is primarily genetic. Certain ethnic groups have historically been noted for more prominent cheekbones due to ancestry and bone structure patterns. Body composition affects how prominently existing bones appear.

The Research on Cheekbones and Attractiveness

Prominent cheekbones do appear in cross-cultural attractiveness research as a feature associated with attractive faces — particularly in female faces. The hypothesized evolutionary reason: prominent zygomatic arches in women are associated with higher estrogen levels, signaling reproductive fitness. In men, the relationship is less consistent and context-dependent.

However — and this is important — the effect size is modest, the research is complicated by many confounding variables, and "prominent cheekbones" is not a single thing that maps cleanly onto a beauty hierarchy. Cheekbones read differently at different ages, in different lighting, with different surrounding facial features.

The Contouring Economy

The makeup industry has built a significant revenue stream on the cheekbone preference. Contouring — using darker and lighter makeup to create the illusion of shadow and highlight — specifically simulates the appearance of more prominent cheekbones by creating artificial depth and dimension. It is genuinely effective as an illusion. It is also a response to a standard that many people cannot naturally meet.

Cheek filler has become a popular cosmetic procedure, adding volume to the midface to create cheekbone definition. Like other cosmetic procedures, when done well it is subtle and natural-looking. When overdone, it creates the puffy, apple-cheek look that has been documented extensively as a side effect of the mid-2010s filler era.

The Verdict: Mildly Important, Extremely Overhyped

Are high cheekbones attractive? On average, in certain cultural contexts, yes, somewhat. Is their absence a significant problem? No. Are they worth the cultural weight placed on them? Almost certainly not.

The cheekbone's starring role in beauty culture says more about the specific aesthetics of Western high fashion — which is traditionally associated with angular, bony features suited to dramatic lighting — than it does about universal attractiveness. Many faces without prominent cheekbones are extraordinarily attractive. Many faces with them are not. The relationship is real but weak and context-dependent.

UglyNet™ measures Zygomatic Prominence Index as one of our 47 metrics. It contributes approximately 1/47th of your total ugliness score. If you scored poorly on it, 46 other things are also being measured. We suggest not fixating.