Are prey eyes unattractive?

The names borrow a metaphor: predators have forward, narrowed eyes and prey animals have wide, watchful ones. Forums attach a reading to each, intense and masculine for hunter eyes, soft and anxious for prey eyes, and then treat that reading as a ranking. It is a community preference, mostly about men's faces. It is not biology and it is not a research finding.

Round, open eyes read soft, expressive and youthful, which many people find attractive. On women the pattern overlaps with the doe look that makeup is designed to imitate. On men it reads less sex-typical than a low, heavy brow, which is the trade-off the forums are pointing at, exaggerated into a verdict. What does cost a face is tiredness: puffy lids and dark circles drag down any eye type far more than its shape does. It is also worth checking the photo. A camera held below eye level turns the outer corners down, and raised brows add white above the iris, so a single selfie can produce prey eyes on almost anyone.

The orbit, the brow bone and the tilt are structural, and BecomeTen does not recommend surgery. Three things are workable:

• Relaxing a raised brow. Many prey-eye photos are a habitually lifted brow. Letting it rest lowers the brow and covers more lid.
• Brow grooming. Filling the start of the brow and keeping the tail level makes the brow read lower and straighter. This is grooming convention, not research.
• Sleep and the under-eye. A study photographing the same people rested and sleep-deprived found the tired faces judged to have more swollen eyes and hanging lids.

The prey eyes test reads opening, tilt and brow height from one eye-level photo and names the nearest type. Are hunter eyes just squinting? explains why the forum ideal is often a pose, and can you get hunter eyes? covers what moves.