Have you ever said to someone ‘You have your mother’s eyes’? What about ‘You have your father’s nose’?
Family resemblance is undeniable, but now you can actually pinpoint which facial features came from where.
Scientists at King’s College London studied about 1000 female twins using 3D face mapping software to determine which parts of the face are most influenced by genetics. They found your nose is the part you’re most likely to inherit from your parents, and more specifically the tip of your nose is about 66 per cent likely to have been passed down through your family.
Although your nose might be a noticeable family trait, another you might never comment on is the space between your nose and your lip (called the philtrum) which is the second most highly ranked area of genetic similarity. Although we can’t blame you for never noticing that area.
Cheekbones were also high on the list, and Susan Sarandon and her daughter Eva Amurri prove having this bone structure trait can really emphasise familial resemblance.
“The notion that our genes control our face is self-evident. Many of us have facial traits that clearly resemble those of our parents and identical twins are often indistinguishable,” said professor Giovanni Montana from King’s College London.
Reese Witherspoon and her daughter Ava are nearly identical.
To summarise, the study discovered the areas of the face most likely to be influenced by your genetics include:
~ The tip of the nose
~ Area above the lips
~ Cheekbones
~ Inner corners of the eyes
~ Area below the lips
So now you can go through your family photos and see what you’ve passed down to your kids, or if you have your mum’s nose – or even her cheekbones.
