It’s always a good idea to tread carefully when guessing someone’s age – but can you work out how old these women are from cropped photos?
While greying hair and sagging skin are obvious indicators, the introduction of hair dye and Botox mean they are no longer reliable clues.
As part of a study, researchers collected a range of pictures from people of varying ages and ethnicities.
These images were then cropped so only the eye and eyebrow area were visible.
A group of 600 participants were asked to rate the photographs in terms of age, health and attractiveness.
Analysis revealed certain features were strongly linked to a person being perceived as older.
These pictures below are from a mix of of younger women, aged roughly between 20 and 35, and middle-aged women, aged roughly between 35 and 50.
But can you tell which images belong to which group?
Picture A: Do you think this woman belongs to the ‘younger’ or ‘middle-aged’ group, based on her eyes alone?
Picture B: Do you think this woman belongs to the ‘younger’ or ‘middle-aged’ group, based on her eyes alone?
Picture C: Do you think this woman belongs to the ‘younger’ or ‘middle-aged’ group, based on her eyes alone?
The researchers revealed that wrinkles around the eyes – known colloquially as ‘crow’s feet’ – and are the primary driver of age perception across all ethnic groups.
Women with more wrinkles, and ones with deep lines, were judged as being older.
This can make it easy to pick out women who are aged 50 and above but it can be tricky to distinguish between younger than this – especially if they have good skincare.
From the images above, picture A is from the middle-aged group.
Meanwhile pictures B and C are from the younger group.
The scientists said crow’s feet are a significant age predictor across all the ethnic groups involved in the study, which included Chinese, Japanese, French, Indian and South African.
This means that lines at the corners of the eyes are a primary marker used by people to estimate a woman’s age, they said.
With this information, do you fare any better with these next batch of images?
Picture D: Do you think this woman belongs to the ‘younger’ or ‘middle-aged’ group, based on her eyes alone?
Picture E: Do you think this woman belongs to the ‘younger’ or ‘middle-aged’ group, based on her eyes alone?
Picture F: Do you think this woman belongs to the ‘younger’ or ‘middle-aged’ group, based on her eyes alone?
In these images, picture E is from the younger group while photos D and F are from the middle aged group.
‘The skin around the eye region is one of the most difficult to address in clinical diagnosis and aesthetic treatment,’ the team wrote in the International Journal of Cosmetic Science.
‘The skin around the eyes is thinner than in other facial regions and has fewer sebaceous glands, making it more vulnerable to intrinsic and extrinsic ageing effects, ranging from genetics to lifestyle habits.
‘The dynamic lines, particularly the crow’s feet wrinkles, which appear during mimic muscle contraction are temporary at younger ages but become static over time and are a primary sign of ageing.
‘This explains the high concern reported particularly by women aged over 40 years who are dissatisfied with their appearance.’
Overall, the South African women in the group exhibited the highest density of wrinkles in the under-eye region, they revealed. Meanwhile Indian and Japanese women had the least amount of wrinkles in the crow’s feet region.
Overall, faces with more wrinkles around the eyes were also perceived as less healthy and less attractive.
The team also discovered that differences in under-eye skin colour and radiance could influence how healthy a woman was rated.
Women with more wrinkles, and ones with deep lines, were judged as being older – such as this participant
These graphs show that as the number of wrinkles increased, women were perceived to be older, less healthy and less attractive
Dr Brendan Khong, an aesthetic doctor working in London, has previously revealed there are three main types of agers – ‘sinkers’, ‘saggers’ and ‘wrinklers’.
A person who suffers ‘sinking’ face will notice signs of loose skin collecting in the middle of the face, while a ‘sagger’ will see their skin moving downwards, towards the chin and away from the bone.
So-called ‘wrinklers’ may not have as much volume loss, but will have a large number of lines on the forehead and around the eyes and the mouth, Dr Khong explains.
He adds that some people will start showing signs of ageing much earlier than others, and this can give away which type of ager you may become.
‘Genetics plays a big role in early ageing,’ he says. ‘This influences how quickly collagen and elastin — the key proteins responsible for skin’s firmness and elasticity — begin to break down.
‘But, UV exposure, pollution, an unhealthy diet, lack of sleep, stress and smoking can all accelerate this ageing process by causing oxidative stress which damages skin cells.’
