Cheekbone ratio: two widths, undone by a head turn.

Cheekbone ratio compares the width of the face at cheekbone level against the width of the face at the jaw base — both measured side to side, corner to corner. A higher ratio means the cheekbones read wider relative to the jaw; a lower ratio means the jaw is closer to or wider than the cheekbones. That's the whole definition — it's a proportion between two widths, not a claim about bone prominence, fat coverage, or bone structure itself.

Cheekbone ratio is built from two horizontal widths measured at different points on the face, front to back. Because of that, it's directly sensitive to yaw — how far the head is turned left or right, off a straight-on axis — since a turn foreshortens the farther width more than the nearer one and shifts the ratio even though nothing about the face changed. Of the six ratios Mogalytics tracks, cheekbone ratio is one of the more turn-sensitive — see the full breakdown of why scores swing between scans for how the other five ratios get thrown off by different camera variables. A single uploaded photo has no way to correct for head turn; whatever angle the head happened to be at is baked into the result.

The fix isn't a better single photo, it's ruling out head turn as the variable before trusting the number. Face the camera straight-on, hold distance and expression steady, and take more than one reading — the practice guide covers framing and pose in more detail. If the ratio still moves between attempts once turn is controlled for, that's a more meaningful signal than one photo can ever give you.

Mogalytics tracks cheekbone ratio as one of six weighted geometry ratios — alongside eye line, jaw ratio, frame symmetry, midface, and bridge — settled over a 30-frame trimmed-mean window so a single head turn doesn't define the result. It's read live from your own camera on-device, not from one uploaded photo, so you can square up to the lens, check the read, adjust, and check again in the same session instead of guessing from a single shot. See what the full composite tier actually means once you have a stable reading, and how to track it across sessions rather than trusting any one scan.

Cheekbone ratio is one piece of a six-measurement composite. If you're auditing the rest: the facial symmetry test shares the same head-turn sensitivity from a different angle; jaw ratio is a height proportion instead, sensitive to chin pitch rather than turn; and the nose bridge ratio has its own angle sensitivity tied to the bridge's raised shape.