Given the impact of physical attractiveness on social communication, it is not surprising that individuals with a cleft lip and palate have experienced social isolation and poor self-esteem. But how people really see faces affected by this anomaly has not been studied, according to a study in the Cleft Palate--Craniofacial Journal (March 2011, Vol. 48:2, pp. 210-216).
A team of international researchers used an eye-tracking camera to analyze eye movements while participants looked at pictures of faces with and without a unilateral cleft lip and palate. Participants included a group of 33 people affected by cleft lip and palate and a control group of 30 unaffected individuals.
When looking at a face, the eyes usually fixate on the main features, following a path from one to the next, the study authors noted. This occurs in a fixed order and is known as the scanpath. A typical scanpath has top-down movement, fixing primarily on the eyes, then the nose and mouth. It has also been documented that viewers will fixate initially and for a longer duration on features that draw on their emotions, the researchers wrote.
In this study, participants with and without cleft lip and palate showed a quantifiably different scanpath from one another when looking at pictures. Participants with cleft lip and palate fixated on the nose significantly more often and the eyes significantly less often than participants without cleft lip and palate, the researchers found.
Whether looking at affected or unaffected faces, participants with cleft lip and palate displayed the same scanpath behavior. Both groups of participants looked at pictures of faces with cleft lip and palate longer than they did unaffected faces.
More than 50% of those with cleft lip and palate say they are not satisfied with their faces. Even when surgery to repair the cleft has been performed in infancy with appropriate follow-up therapy, a scar and a distinct asymmetry of the nose remain.
Those with a cleft lip and palate have a stronger emotional connection with these facial features, which could explain how they view faces differently, the researchers concluded.
