Doctor Lee Jin-soo's plastic surgery essay 32-Modigliani's long middle part of the face

Modigliani is a very handsome Italian man who is considered the most handsome artist of all time.

(Amedo Modigliani, 1884-1920)

 

There was a fatal drawback to such a handsome young man.

He was weak in health and it's been living with tuberculosis all his life. Modigliani, who takes art classes in Italy, took a full-fledged artist's path in 1907 when he moved to Paris at the age of 22.

Since coming to Paris, there have been many years since 1910 when he devoted himself to sculpture. And his sculpture was greatly influenced by the original African sculpture, which had a lot of influence on the Fauvism and Cubism at the time. It was sculpted with a head, which was characterized by extremely narrow glabella and a very long nose.

(Woman's Head 1910-1911)

But Modigliani, the weak man, couldn't stand the dusty, manual labor-intensive working environment, stopped carving in 1913, and then became immersed in painting.

 

The time spent on sculpture was not wasted because the painting style changed a lot before and after that time.

(Portrait of Paul Alexandre)

This painting was made in 1909 and is a portrait of Paul Alexandre, the patron of the time. It's a painting very well, but it doesn't really distinguish it from any other Fauvism.

(Portrait of Jeanne Hebuterne in a large hat)

The face shape of a person changed in his painting after the time he devoted himself to sculpture. The above picture depicts Modigliani, who had been involved with numerous women, and Jeanne Eberterne, who was the only one who married and had children. The shape of his narrow glabella and extremely long nose resembles his sculpture. And this face-shaped painting became Modigliani's trademark. He created his own unique painting world, which does not belong to any of the thought that was popular in Paris at the time.

 

Modigliani's love story with his wife, Jeanne Eberterne.

In 1917, Jeanne Herberterne (1898-1920), the most important person in Modigliani's life, appeared in his life. She was a 19-year-old art student at that time. The two fell in love deeply as soon as they met, married and had their first child despite the opposition of her parents. When they were pregnant with their second child, Modigliani got chronic tuberculosis so badly that he ended his life unfortunately with meningitis. And she loved him so much that the day after he died, she committed suicide and ended up with him.

The two died at an early age, but their love story and art still impress countless people.

The characteristic of Modigliani's painting is that it has a very long nose, and this face is called a long face in the middle.

So what is ‘Middle Part of the Face’?

Middle face is the middle part of the face when it is divided into three parts. Generally said it’s from eyebrows to the tip of the nose. It is closely related to the length of the nose. Shorter the nose is, shorter the central part is. Opposite works the same as well.

The actual length of the middle part of the face is determined by the location and size (length) of the eye holes and nostrils in the skull. If the central face is long, the hole located on the nose is longer than the width between the holes in the eyes. This makes the nose look longer than the width of the eyes on the face.

If you look at the growth of the face, there is a relatively long growth compared to the width. The length of the nose, the median, is no exception.

In general, the relative length of the nose is extended throughout the growth process. Also, the male's nose is relatively long compared to that of the female. One of the characteristics of young looking face is nose is shorter than the distance between eyes. On the other hand, a long face in the middle of the face looks older, and in the case of women, it can give a masculine impression.

In Modigliani's work, a woman with a long central face seems very attractive, but in real life, a long central face has a beauty problem that makes her look older and masculine.

Sadly, however, there is no surgery to shorten the actual length of the central face. Even double jaw surgery which is known as panacea for facial problems, cannot reduce the actual length of the central facial area.

 

Typically, in cases when the central facial area is not long and the double jaw surgery works, the length of the philtrum is shorter than the length of the upper jaw or you see a lot of teeth when you’re smiling, the length of the face can be greatly reduced by the double jaw surgery.

You can actually shorten the length of middle part of the face.  There are surgeries that make your nose look short and reduce the length of your philtrum.

Surgery with a short nose has two main directions.

One is to lower the starting point of the nose by lowering the nose bridge. This can be done by removing the implant or replacing it with a lower implant, especially if the nose has been raised to a previous implant. (On the other hand, when raising the nose for someone with a long middle face, doctors should be very careful in raising the nose, considering the area where the middle face may look longer.)

The other way is to raise the tip of your nose to the top. This is especially effective when the tip of the nose is drooping, such as an arrow nose. However, it is difficult to apply if you already have lifted tip.

It is very common for the central face to have a long philtrum, which is considered to reduce the length of the philtrum if the philtrum is long and stretched, and the upper teeth are not clearly visible. The lower part of the nose is incised to reduce the philtrum, which leaves a scar under the nose, so it should be performed after fully examining the benefits of the scar.

 

I often meet people who worry and complain that 'the central facial part' is long. I think it's likely that because it's a difficult problem to solve. As such, it is important to be diagnosed more carefully and listen to advice from a well-informed expert before performing surgery.