What the term actually describes
The ogee curve is the flowing double-S contour visible on an oblique, three-quarter view of the face. Traced from top to bottom, it runs:
- Out from the lateral brow and orbital rim,
- Over the malar eminence (the projecting point of the cheekbone),
- Then back inward through the submalar and midface region, toward the jaw.
A pronounced ogee curve reads as high, forward cheekbones with a visible hollow beneath them and a smooth transition into the jawline — the same "hollow cheeks" look discussed at length on the buccal fat and hollow cheeks page. The ogee curve is the whole S-shaped contour line; buccal fat volume is one of the things that shapes it.
Where it comes from
"Ogee" is originally an architectural term, describing a continuous moulding profile made of two curves facing opposite directions — visible for centuries in cornices, arches, and window tracery.
Facial aesthetic and reconstructive surgery literature later adopted the same word for the analogous S-curve of the cheek and midface, and it now appears routinely in that literature, including in describing how custom cheek implants are shaped to restore or enhance it.
That's a genuine origin outside looksmaxxing culture — but it's a descriptive term used in surgical planning, not a validated measurement with an established norm the way an orthodontic angle like the Ricketts E-line or SNA/SNB angle has one.
Why it can't be read from a frontal camera ratio
Two things separate the ogee curve from every ratio Mogalytics computes:
- Viewing angle. The curve is evaluated on an oblique, three-quarter view under directional light that reveals the shadow of the submalar hollow. A straight-on frontal frame — the angle every one of Mogalytics' six measurements is read from — doesn't show this contour the same way at all.
- Depth, not just position. The curve depends on how far the cheekbone itself projects forward and how much soft tissue fills or hollows the area beneath it — the same depth-and-volume limitation covered on the buccal fat page. Flat 2D landmark coordinates have no depth channel to draw on, so two faces with an identical frontal cheekbone-to-jaw width can have very different ogee curves.
Forum claims about "having the ogee curve at 3/4ths" are self-assessments from a single photo, angle, and light source — not a repeatable measurement, and easy to make look better or worse by changing any one of those three variables.
Where this fits next to what Mogalytics actually reads
Mogalytics does not compute or display an ogee curve score, and it can't from a frontal camera feed. The closest of its six measurements by region is:
- Cheekbone ratio — cheek width relative to jaw width, read frontally, not the oblique-angle depth contour the ogee curve describes.
A high cheekbone ratio and a pronounced ogee curve often correlate loosely — wide cheekbones are part of what builds the curve — but they're not the same measurement, viewed from the same angle, or built from the same inputs. Mogalytics makes no claim of parity between the two. See the accuracy page for the general limits of any camera-based reading.
Related reads
If cheek and midface structure is what you're auditing, these are the closest related pages:
- Cheekbone ratio — the closest camera-read analog by region, a frontal width proportion rather than an oblique depth contour.
- Buccal fat & hollow cheeks — the soft-tissue volume trait that shapes part of the ogee curve, and shares its "no landmark tool can see depth" limitation.
- Facial width-to-height ratio (FWHR) — another width-based measurement often discussed alongside cheek prominence.
- Accuracy — what a camera-based reading can and can't tell you, generally.