Canthal Tilt Test
Measure your canthal tilt in degrees from one photo. See if it is positive, neutral or negative, then zoom in to check your eye corners and move them if you need to.
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Free·
Phone at eye level·
No photo handy? Try an example.
AI-generated example portraits. Each number is that photo's measured canthal tilt.
AI-generated example
+3.8°
Positive
Average of both eyes
Eye on the left of the photo +3.6°
Eye on the right of the photo +4.0°
Drop your photo to start
It stays on this device.
What is canthal tilt?
Canthal tilt is the angle of the line from your inner eye corner to your outer eye corner, measured against a horizontal line.
The inner corner is called the medial canthus. The outer corner is the lateral canthus. If the outer corner sits higher, the angle is positive. If it sits lower, the angle is negative. If the two corners are about level, the tilt is neutral.
Doctors describe the same thing as the slant of the palpebral fissure, the opening between your eyelids. The NIH Elements of Morphology guide measures it with your face upright, your head neither tipped forward nor back, and your gaze straight ahead. It notes that the average eye slants slightly upward at every age. A downslant only counts as a clinical finding when it is more than two standard deviations below the average for age. So an ordinary negative canthal tilt in a photo is not a diagnosis.
Canthal tilt describes a shape. It says nothing about your health, character or worth. The term spread through social media and looksmaxxing forums, where it is often treated as a beauty rule. This page treats it as a measurement: what it is, how to take it, and what research does and doesn't show.
Positive, neutral and negative canthal tilt
Your canthal tilt is one of three types: positive, neutral or negative. This test calls anything within 2° of level neutral.
That ±2° band is how this site labels results. It is not a medical standard, and other tools draw the line in other places. The type is a quick summary; the number in degrees tells you more, and a reading of +2.4° and one of +1.8° are closer to each other than their labels suggest.
Positive canthal tilt
A positive canthal tilt means your outer corners sit higher than your inner corners. On this test, that is an average above +2°. It is common, not rare. The Face Research Lab London Set has 102 adults photographed face-on, with eye corners marked by hand. From those marks, the average was +3.7°, and 79 of the 102 people were above +2°. That is one studio photo set, not the world, but it shows how ordinary an upward tilt is.
Neutral canthal tilt
Neutral means your inner and outer corners are close to level, within 2° either way on this test. A small change in head angle can move a reading near the line from one type to the other. If your result is close to ±2°, check the corner points before you read much into the label.
Negative canthal tilt
A negative canthal tilt means your outer corners sit lower than your inner corners, below −2° on this test. It is a normal variation in eye shape. It turns up less often than a positive tilt in adult photo sets, and the outer corner tends to sit a little lower with age.
What about an extreme canthal tilt?
There is no agreed cut-off for an extreme tilt. A very large reading from one photo more often means the head was tipped, the camera was high or low, or a corner point landed on a lash or shadow. Zoom in and check before you trust it.
How to measure your canthal tilt
You can measure your canthal tilt with this test, or by hand with a photo and any app that can draw a straight line.
Both start with the same kind of photo. Face the camera, hold it at eye level, and keep your eyes relaxed and open.
With this test
Choose a photo. The test finds your face, places a point on the inner and outer corner of each eye, and measures the angle for each eye. Your canthal tilt is the average of the two. Then zoom in on the points, and drag any that landed on a lash or a shadow.
By hand
- Open the photo in an editor that shows pixel positions or can draw lines.
- Find the inner corner of one eye, where the upper and lower lids meet next to the pink tissue by your nose.
- Find the outer corner, where the lids meet at the side. Ignore lashes and eyeliner.
- Draw a line between the two, and a horizontal line through the inner corner. The angle between them is that eye's canthal tilt.
- Do the same for the other eye, then average the two to get your canthal tilt.
The canthal tilt formula
Take the inner corner at (x1, y1) and the outer corner at (x2, y2), in pixels, where y counts down from the top of the photo:
tilt = atan( (y1 − y2) ÷ |x2 − x1| )
For example, an inner corner at (300, 420) and an outer corner at (370, 414) give atan(6 ÷ 70) ≈ +4.9°. The outer corner is 6 pixels higher, so the result is positive.
Why the line between your pupils matters
If your head leans to one side, one eye's angle goes up and the other's goes down by the same amount. The average of the two eyes stays the same, which is why this test leads with the average. For each eye on its own, the test measures against the line between the centers of your irises instead of the edge of the photo. That way a slight lean does not push one eye's canthal tilt up and the other's down.
Why your canthal tilt looks different in photos
Your canthal tilt can read a few degrees apart in two photos, because a photo flattens your face onto a flat image.
Head angle, camera height, expression and distance all move where your corners appear. Most of it is easy to fix.
| Problem | What happens | How to take the photo |
|---|---|---|
| Camera below your eyes, or chin up | Outer corners read lower | Camera at eye level, chin level |
| Camera above your eyes, or chin down | Outer corners read higher | Camera at eye level, chin level |
| Head turned to one side | The far eye looks shorter and the two eyes stop matching | Face the lens, both ears equally visible |
| Smiling or squinting | Your cheeks lift the lower lids and move the outer corner | Relaxed face, eyes open |
| Phone held very close | Wide-angle distortion | Arm's length or more, or a timer |
| Glasses, heavy liner, hair over the eyes | A corner is hidden or a false edge appears | Glasses off, hair back, then check the points |
| Small or blurry eyes | One pixel becomes a large angle | Let your face fill more of the frame |
Head angle matters more than people expect. Vaca and colleagues photographed 12 women with the head tipped 15° down, level and 15° up. Tipping the head down made the canthal tilt more positive, and 11 blinded raters scored the upper eye area differently as a result. In our own checks of this test before launch, on 124 stock selfies and several photos of the same people, each degree the head tipped up or down moved the canthal tilt reading by about 0.25°. To compare two photos fairly, take them the same way. If two photos give different canthal tilt readings, trust the one taken closest to the conditions in the table.
What is a good or ideal canthal tilt?
There is no single ideal canthal tilt that applies to everyone.
Studies measure canthal tilt in different ways, in small and specific groups, and none of them sets a number that suits every face. What they do show is that a typical adult canthal tilt sits a little above zero.
| Study | Who was measured | What it found | What it can't tell you |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lee et al., 2020 | 76 Korean patients seen for facial asymmetry, average age 23 | About +8.4° per eye, measured from the facial midline. None had a negative tilt. | A clinic group, not a world average or an ideal |
| Odunze et al., 2008 | 296 patient photos from one US plastic surgery practice | Median outer-corner angle 2.3°–3.0° at 45 or younger, 1.15°–1.3° over 45 | One practice's records, measured a different way |
| Sforza et al., 2015 | 325 Italian adults aged 18–30: 126 beauty-contest semifinalists and 199 university students and staff | The eye opening slanted more in the contestants, women and men | A link in one group, not a cause |
| Patel et al., 2021 | Photos of young Black women rated by 8 people; 55 high-rated and 48 low-rated eyes | 9.12° on average in high-rated eyes, 6.71° in low-rated eyes | Negative tilts were left out before comparing; a short abstract |
| London Set, our calculation | 102 adults in studio photos | +3.7° on average from hand-marked corners; 79 of 102 above +2° | One photo set |
Averages depend on who is measured and how. A +8° average in one clinic and +3.7° in a photo set do not contradict each other. None of these studies shows that a higher canthal tilt is always better.
Is a good canthal tilt different for men and women? The studies above give no separate ideal for either. Sforza found the same pattern in both, and the same range of tilts appears on everyone.
Positive vs negative canthal tilt: is negative bad?
Neither is better on its own. A negative canthal tilt is a normal variation, not a flaw, and a positive one does not make a face attractive by itself.
Some studies found a mild preference for a slightly lifted outer corner. In an experiment by Bashour and Geist, judges chose between photos of women's faces and copies with the tilt increased in Photoshop. They picked the edited face 93% of the time. In Sforza's study, the beauty-contest group had a steeper slant. Most of this work used female faces, small or specific groups, and edited or posed images.
Other results point the other way. Kempa and colleagues showed 2,081 people nine edits of one unisex face. Raising the outer eye corner lowered ratings of attractiveness, femininity and trustworthiness, and raised ratings of dominance and threat. Rhee and colleagues compared composite faces. Attractive Asian composites had a gentler slant than the average Asian composite, while attractive Caucasian and African composites had a steeper one. A 2023 review found only six studies on what makes the eye area look good.
So a slightly positive canthal tilt is often preferred in these experiments, but not without limit and not in every group. A bigger angle is not a better one, and the rest of your face matters more than one line.
Is a positive canthal tilt feminine?
Not reliably. Some research links an upturned eye with femininity, and some finds the opposite. In the Kempa study, women saw a raised outer corner as less feminine, while men did not. Every type of canthal tilt appears on men and women.
Does a negative canthal tilt matter more for some people?
The evidence is mostly about female faces, with little on male faces. Nothing in it supports treating a negative canthal tilt as a flaw for anyone.
Can you change your canthal tilt?
Not with exercises or mewing. Makeup, brows and hair change how your canthal tilt reads, and only surgery changes where the corner is attached.
| Method | What it changes | Evidence |
|---|---|---|
| Eyeliner, lashes, shadow | How the outer corner reads. The angle stays the same. | A styling effect; no measurement studies |
| Brow shape and height | The frame around the eye | Brow height changed how faces were judged (Kempa, 2025); it does not move the corner |
| Hairstyle and fringe | What frames your eyes | Styling only |
| Tape or thread lifts | A pull on the outer corner while it lasts | No good evidence of lasting change |
| Eye exercises, mewing | Nothing shown at the eye corners | No research shows a lasting change. The American Association of Orthodontists says there is no evidence mewing reshapes the jaw. |
| Canthoplasty, canthopexy | Can reposition the outer corner | Surgery with risks such as ectropion, misalignment, scarring and tear-duct injury (EyeWiki) |
Makeup and brows can make your canthal tilt look more lifted or softer in photos, but the measured corners stay where they are. There is no study showing that face exercises or mewing move the outer eye corner in adults. Brows and hair are the easy part to play with. To see how a different cut or fringe frames your eyes, try the AI hairstyle try-on by Style Look Lab.
Canthal tilt also changes on its own over time. In Odunze's records, the median outer-corner angle was lower in patients over 45 than in younger ones. That is gradual. If one eye's corner drops suddenly, or the change comes with swelling, pain or blurred vision, see a doctor rather than a test.
Surgery that changes canthal tilt is a medical decision for an eye surgeon, made in person after an exam. A canthal tilt reading from a photo can't tell you whether you need it.
Hunter eyes, prey eyes and canthal tilt
"Hunter eyes" is a community term, not a medical one, and tilt is only part of it.
It usually means a positive canthal tilt combined with a low, straight brow, little visible upper eyelid and deep-set eyes. "Prey eyes" describes the opposite: rounder, more open eyes, often level or downturned, with more upper lid showing. Eyelid exposure, brow position, how deep the eyes sit and the shape of the eye opening matter as much as the angle. This test measures only the angle between your eye corners. It can't tell you whether you have hunter eyes, and a positive reading alone does not make them.
Because these labels mix several features, two people with the same canthal tilt can look very different. The angle is something you can measure. Whether a pair of eyes counts as "hunter" is a matter of opinion, and forums don't agree on it.
How accurate is this canthal tilt test?
On public photo sets with hand-marked eye corners, the average angle from this test was typically 1.2°–2.5° away from the hand-marked one, depending on the set.
That is enough to tell a clearly positive tilt from a clearly negative one. It is not enough to place a canthal tilt that sits right on the ±2° line.
| Photo set | Faces measured | Average error | Corner model alone | 90% within |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| LaPa (test) | 1,941 of 1,996 | 1.40° | 1.92° | 2.81° |
| 300-W (test) | 314 of 600 | 1.87° | 2.23° | 3.77° |
| WFLW (test) | 661 of 2,500 | 2.51° | 2.93° | 5.18° |
| London Set | 102 of 102 | 1.24° | 1.19° | 2.26° |
Errors are for the average canthal tilt of both eyes, measured with the same versions of the models that run on this page. Faces measured counts photos where the test found the right face. Crowded and unusual photos were often skipped. "Corner model alone" is Google's MediaPipe face landmarker, which places the first points. A small second model then refines each corner. It helped on three sets. On the London Set's studio portraits, it did not.
Two limits matter. We have not yet checked the test against hand-marked phone selfies. And it measures the angle in a photo, not your eyelids in a clinic. The one decimal place is a display format, not 0.1° accuracy.
Your photo and results stay on your device
Your photo is measured in your browser and is not uploaded.
The eye corner points, the angles and any points you move stay on your device too, and they are gone when you leave the page. The page downloads the measuring models once; that download carries nothing about you. We count three things with Google Analytics: a test starting, a result or a "can't measure" message, and a click on a suggested next step. Those counts never include your photo, corner points, angles or canthal tilt type.
FAQ
Is this canthal tilt test free?
Yes. There is no account, email or payment, and no limit on photos.
Is a positive canthal tilt rare?
No. In the London Set, 79 of 102 adults were above +2°. A positive tilt is the most common type in adult photo sets.
Does a mirrored selfie change my result?
The average stays the same. The two single-eye values swap sides. That is why this test names each eye by its side in the photo, not as your left or right eye.
Why are my two eyes different?
Small differences between the eyes are normal, and a slightly turned head adds to them. A photo can't separate a difference of a degree or two from measuring error, so treat the average as your number.
Is canthal tilt the same as eye shape?
No. Eye shape also covers how open your eyes are, how much eyelid shows, whether the lids are hooded, and how far apart your eyes sit. Canthal tilt is one angle within that.
Can a filter or app give me a positive canthal tilt?
A filter changes the photo, not your eyes. Measuring a filtered photo measures the filter. Apps that "add" a canthal tilt are editing tools, not tests.
Can I measure someone else's photo?
It works on any clear face. Please only measure photos of people who are happy for you to do so.