Utilizing Art and Mathematic Principles in Facial
Framing and Hair Restoration Design.
By
Joseph F. Greco, PhD, PA/C
Sarasota, Florida
Like any play or film, a picture must be put together so that its component parts make a balanced, harmonious whole to hold the attention of the viewer. It is the blueprint for a painting or the composition. Good composition is achieved when all elements of the picture relate to each other in a balanced way.
The artist will design a focal point, which the viewer’s eye tends to be drawn most strongly and these focal points may be mathematically predetermined.
In more complex images no one element is more important than another, so the artist has to guide the viewer’s eye “around and sometimes into the picture”, by the way the elements are arranged.
A famous painting by Salvador Dali, The Hallucinogenic
Toreador is a perfect example of this. The focal point is the statue or statues of Venus, but the artist draws the viewer into the painting when he creates a right brain shift as the Toreador appears in the middle of the statues. The artist then guides the viewer’s eye around the picture illustrating the objects and symbolism.

This author feels that the focal point in any facial surgery, especially facial framing with hair transplantation, would be “the
eyes”, and not the particular portion of the face or hair that was enhanced.
Additionally, the author feels that all three hairlines must be restored to achieve true balance, beauty and proportion. That is the frontal hairline and the lateral hairlines and temporal peaks.
The basis for the above mentioned opinions have both a mathematical and an artistic basis, as ancient as the pyramids. The ancients called it the “ Divine” or “Golden”, Mean, Section or Ratio.
There is no other single number that has played such a significant role in the history of the universe and it is fitting that it is referred to by many as golden.
While it is unknown exactly when first discovered and applied by man, the Golden Section has existed in math and the universe and has been rediscovered throughout history. The Egyptians used both
Pi and PHI to design and construct the pyramids.

The Greeks used both PI and PHI to build the Parthenon. Plato considered the golden section to be the most important of all mathematical relationships and the key to the physics and the universe.
Leonardo Fibonacci, an Italian born in 1175 AD, discovered the
Fibonacci series in which the sum of the squares of any series of
Fibonicci numbers will equal the last Fibonacci number used in the series plus the next Fibonacci number.
1,1,2,3,5,8,13,21
The series is ubiquitous throughout nature. A study of how the numbers of peddles and leaves in plants and flowers correlates to the Fibonacci series are truly amazing! Is it, also, a correlation or just coincidence, how the Fibonacci series relates to the natural hair growth pattern of 1, 2 and 3 hair follicular
bundles in humans?
While Fibonacci may not have realized the significance of the
Fibonacci spiral and its unique connection to PHI 1.618, the property results in the Fibonacci spiral are seen throughout nature

and the cosmos.
In 500 B.C. Phidias, a Greek sculptor designed statues for the
Parthenon based on Pi and PHI.
The golden section was popularized and used by Renaissance artists to achieve balance, proportion and beauty in their works as illustrated in Da Vinci’s masterpiece, “The Last Supper”. The human body, as studied by Leonardo DaVinci in the 1500’s, is filled with examples of PHI and named it “sectio aurea,” or Latin for
Golden Section.
There truly is PHI in your face! A study of the face and how it relates to PHI will demonstrate facial proportion and illustrate how beauty is based entirely on the Golden ratio. The head forms a golden rectangle with the eyes at the midpoint. The mouth and

nose are placed at golden sections between the eyes and bottom of the chin and there are endless proportional ratios in the face based on 1.618.
There are countless other golden ratios in the face and head (as illustrated below) that can be appreciated, but for our purpose, the eyes, are central point of focus in the face based on PHI.
As artists choose “focal points” in their portraits, so must the

skilled aesthetic surgeon when resculpting the face. A true work of art should bring attention to the eyes and then secondarily to the area of restoration or enhancement.
The purpose of this paper is not to discuss how measurements should be taken, but rather, why it is essential from a beauty and artistic perspective to achieve perspective and balance when framing the face.
The frontal hairline should be referred to “a” hairline and not
“the” hairline because it is only one portion of facial framing.
Whenever any patient has recession in the lateral hairlines, they must be sculpted also to bring attention to the eyes. Merely restoring a frontal hairline will not achieve true frontal and lateral proportion. In time, the focal point will actually move away from the eyes to the area of lateral temporal recession.
The golden rectangle has been used for centuries in creating paintings and other works of art. This author utilizes a vertical rectangle or portrait format to plan the composition of the facial framing. In the picture below, see how the famous Renaissance painter, Raphael Sanzio, illustrates the geometry of the composition so clearly. Notice where the focal point is in relation to the Madonna’s eyes.

The same principal is used when designing the facial framing.
(Lower) The eyes are the focal point ( Blue lines ) and the secondary focal point is created with the intersecting angles
( Green line ) that will be the frontal hairline peak.

This author utilizes a transparent rectangular Picture Plane/View
Finder, with pre drawn vertical, horizontal and diagonal lines. It is placed in front of the patients face (Above) and marks are made on the viewfinder directly on the eyes. Measurements are then taken from the exact center of the patients face to create the frontal hairline. By turning the Picture Plane laterally, measurements can be taken from the eyes and the lateral temporal peaks are then marked if restoration is required there.
The patient below had a brow lift and while it achieved the desired results, it brought attention away from the eyes rather than toward the eyes. Framing and sculpting the three hairlines brings balance, perspective and beauty to this patient.

The innate brilliance of the Fibonacci spiral (Below) can be appreciated when compared to the Nautilus (Below). The spiral is ubiquitous in nature and can be appreciated in everything from beehives to sunflowers (Below).
Fibonacci Spiral
Nautilus

Coneflower
Because of the perfect balance, proportion and beauty in the spiral design, we also apply this principle when designing posterior crown restorations.
When designing a posterior crown restoration the Fibonacci spiral pattern is utilized in the direction of the patient’s hair growth pattern. The spiral can be either a clockwise spiral or a counterclockwise spiral and, in some instances, a spiral in opposite directions for those rare cases of a double cowlick.

Six months later Before
The Blue line indicating the Fibonacci spiral in a clockwise pattern and the yellow arrows indicating the direction of hair growth orientation, out toward the area of future recession. Because hair loss will continue in a circumferential pattern, the Fibonacci spiral pattern is designed to evenly distribute hair in a systematic, proportional pattern out into the future area of concern.
In summary, Art and aesthetic surgery is simply our humble attempt to recreate what the creator has already given us. It is unnecessary to reinvent the wheel, but rather utilize what has been the cornerstone of nature and beauty since the beginning.