Midface ratio: a compact proportion, thrown off by how close the camera stood.

The midface ratio divides interpupillary distance — the space between the centers of the eyes — by the vertical distance from that same eye line down to the top of the upper lip. Online discussion of the ideal range varies (figures from roughly 0.95 up to 1.1 are all common), and a higher ratio is generally read as a more compact midface. It's a proportion between two measurements on one face, not a comparison against an external template.

Both distances in the ratio come from pixel positions in a 2D image, and a camera doesn't record a face at a fixed, distance-independent scale — it records a perspective projection. Hold a phone close and its wide effective field of view compresses features nearer the lens more than features farther away, which changes the eye-line-to-lip distance relative to interpupillary distance in a way that has nothing to do with actual bone structure. Step back and use a longer working distance and that same face measures differently again. This matters specifically for midface ratio because the ratio itself is a width-to-height comparison — interpupillary width over eye-to-lip height — and Mogalytics' own breakdown of why scores swing between scans names camera distance as the variable that changes apparent width-to-height ratios most. A single uploaded photo has no way to correct for this after the fact — there's no second frame to check it against.

The fix isn't a better single photo, it's holding distance constant and taking more than one reading before trusting the number. Pick a working distance you can reproduce, keep the camera at that distance across attempts, and check whether the ratio holds — the practice guide covers framing and distance in more detail. If your midface reading still moves once distance is controlled for, that's a more meaningful signal than any single photo can give you.

Mogalytics tracks midface as one of six weighted geometry ratios — alongside eye line, jaw ratio, frame symmetry, cheek ratio, and bridge — settled over a 30-frame trimmed-mean window so a single unstable frame doesn't define the result. It's read live from your own camera on-device, not from one uploaded photo, so you can hold a distance, check the reading, and confirm it repeats 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.

Midface is one piece of a six-measurement composite. If you're auditing the rest: canthal tilt and the facial symmetry test are both thrown off by head angle rather than distance; and the nose bridge ratio has its own angle-sensitivity problem tied to the bridge's raised shape.