Canthal tilt test: measure the angle of your eyes

Canthal tilt is one of the most-discussed eye measurements in looksmaxxing, mostly because of its link to the idea of hunter eyes. It is also one of the easiest to measure badly. Here is what it is, how to measure it, and what around the eyes is actually changeable.

What canthal tilt is

Every eye has two corners: the inner one by the nose (the medial canthus) and the outer one (the lateral canthus). Draw a line between them and compare it with a level horizontal line. The angle between the two is the canthal tilt.

• Positive — the outer corner sits above the inner one.
• Neutral — the corners are roughly level.
• Negative — the outer corner sits below the inner one.

The full definition and where the term comes from is in the canthal tilt glossary entry.

How to measure canthal tilt by hand

Take a straight-on photo at eye level with a neutral face. Draw a horizontal line through both inner eye corners, then a line from each inner corner to its outer corner, and measure the angle with any protractor app. Average the two eyes, since they are rarely identical.

This works, but small errors add up fast. The angle is only a few degrees either way, so a head tilted by the same few degrees can flip the sign. A smile or a squint lifts the outer corner. A camera held above or below eye level changes how the corners project. And it is hard to click the exact corner point twice in a row.

How the free scan measures it

The scan runs MediaPipe Face Landmarker in your browser and places landmarks on the inner and outer corners of both eyes. It rotates the face so your eye line is level before measuring, which takes head roll out of the result, and only accepts frames where you are facing the camera. It then averages the two eyes and takes the median across about three seconds of frames, so a blink does not count. Nothing is uploaded: your face never leaves your device, and no account is needed.

The landmarks sit on the visible corners of the eye opening, so the scan reads the tilt as it looks: skin and soft tissue over bone, as a camera sees it from the front. That is the honest version of what any photo-based test measures.

What negative canthal tilt means

A negative tilt is a normal variation, not a flaw. Average tilt differs between populations, and the outer corner is often described as settling a little lower with age as the surrounding tissue changes. Plenty of faces people find striking have a neutral or slightly negative tilt; the eye area is read as a whole, and brow position, the upper lid and the skin underneath all register before an angle does. More on that in canthal tilt and hunter eyes.

What a cream can and cannot do here

Canthal tilt is structural. It is set by the bone and ligaments around the eye, and nothing sold on TheLooksMaxxing changes it. The scan does not recommend a product because of your tilt, and no product page here will tell you otherwise.

What does change around the eyes is the skin and how rested you are:

• Dark circles and puffiness. These are what make an eye area look tired, whatever the tilt. The Peptide Eye Gel-Cream is made for the look of dark circles and puffiness, with acetyl tetrapeptide-5 and sodium hyaluronate for an under-eye that looks more hydrated and less shadowed. Judge it at eight weeks, in photos taken in the same light.
• Sleep. It shows in the eye area first, and it costs nothing. See the sleepmaxxing guide.

A well-rested, de-puffed eye area also makes whatever tilt you have read more clearly. The causes and what helps are covered in dark circles and eye bags in men.