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What are the different eye shapes – and how to tell what’s yours?

Arief Salim

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July 28, 2022

• Eye Health
• Healthy living

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There are various eye shapes, such as upturned and hooded eyes, among many other types. It is relatively easy to determine your eye shape on your own. Determining yours is important as some variations may influence the quality of your vision.

It might appear like determining your eye shape is as easy as ABC. However, in reality, people can have a combination of different eye shapes. Moreover, there are countless variations of these shapes, based on each individual’s unique face shape. To start off, try to find a crease in your eye. You would have monolid eyes if you do not have a crease. Once you have found a crease, note if the colored part of the eye has any white showing. If the answer is in the affirmative, you have round eyes. Downturned eyes are when your eyes’ outer corner turns down. When the iris touches the bottom and top of the eyelid, you have almond-shaped eyes. When the outer corners flick upwards, you have upturned eyes. You have hooded eyes when a skin flap blocks the crease. Below, we explore them in more detail.

(if your eyes do not have creases, then they are monolid eyes.)

Various Eye Shapes

• Deep-set eyes: Deep-set eyes juxtaposed themselves with the brow bone to make the latter seem more distinct. These types of eyes are more pronounced in the skull and bigger.
• Monolid eyes: This type of eye does not contain much of a crease, if any at all. These eyes appear flat.
• Hooded eyes: An additional layer of skin that droops down over the crease making the eyelid appear smaller with this type of eye shape.
• Protruding eyes: Eyelids seem to project outward or protrude (hence their name) in the eye socket area.
• Upturned eyes: In the exterior of this type of almond-shaped eye, there is a natural lift. Such Almond eyes are almost always described as large, bright, and ideal as far as eye shapes go. Almond eyes are shaped like an almond laid on its side with the outer portion of the eye being larger and rounder and the inner corners of the eye being narrower.
• Downturned eyes: This kind of eye has a slight drop at the outer part of the eye.
• Close-set eyes: Close-set eyes occur when the distance between them is narrower than one eyeball width apart.
• Wide-set eyes: Wide-set eyes happen when the distance between them is more than one eyeball width.

(Determining your eye shape is not as easy as it seems.)

Understanding how the eye operates can provide a better knowledge of how eye shapes influence vision. The cornea, otherwise known as the transparent membrane at the front of the eye, has a vital role to play in eye shape.

A normal cornea appears like a dome with a smooth curvature. Thus, it can concentrate light into the retina (at the back of your eye), facilitating vision.

Changes in the shape of the cornea can lead to vision problems called refractive errors.

Here are some of the refractive errors that changes in eye shape can cause:

• Myopia
• Farsightedness
• Astigmatism

Myopia (Nearsightedness)

Myopia happens when your cornea cannot focus light accurately on the retina. Distant objects appear blurry when you have myopia.

This refractive error is usually caused when:

• The size of your eyeball has elongated (longer than usual)
• The curvature of your cornea has been dramatically altered

Farsightedness (Hyperopia)

Hyperopia happens if you can see faraway objects clearly, but not nearby objects. Abnormal changes in the shape of your cornea (declining curvature of the cornea and a shortened eyeball) lead to hyperopia.

Astigmatism

Astigmatism gives rise to hazy distant and near vision when your cornea is partially curved or has a steeper curve in one direction than in the other.

Consult your eye doctor and book an appointment using Plano’s app if you think your eye shape or other issues may affect your vision.

(Consult your doctor if you suspect any discrepancies in your eyes.)

How Eye Shape Affects Your Vision

It can influence the quality of your overall vision. See an eye doctor if you find issues with your vision as a result of your eye shape.

References

“Understanding different eye shapes: Which do you have?,” NVISION Eye Centers, 21-Oct-2021. [Online]. Available: https://www.nvisioncenters.com/eye-shapes/. [Accessed: 25-Jul-2022].

“What’s My Eye Shape? (learn how to tell here),” Vision Center, 27-Apr-2022. [Online]. Available: https://www.visioncenter.org/conditions/eye-shapes/. [Accessed: 25-Jul-2022].