Face
A human face (Mona Lisa).
Latin	facia/facies
MeSH	Face

The term face is the central sense organ complex, for those animals that have one, normally on the ventral surface of the head, and can depending on the definition in the human case, include the hair, forehead, eyebrow, eyes, nose, ears, cheeks, mouth, lips, philtrum, teeth, skin, and chin.^[1] The face has uses of expression, appearance, and identity amongst others. It also has different senses like olfaction, taste, hearing, and vision. ^[2]

Contents 1 Individuality and recognition 2 Metaphor 3 Plastic surgery 4 Caricatures 5 See also 6 References

Individuality and recognition

The face is the feature which best distinguishes a person, and there are special regions of the human brain, such as the fusiform face area (FFA), which when damaged prevent the recognition of the faces of even intimate family members. The pattern of specific organs such as the eyes or parts thereof are used in biometric identification to uniquely identify individuals.

Metaphor

By extension, anything which is the forward or world facing part of a system which has internal structure is considered its 'face', like the façade of a building. For example a public relations or press officer might be called the "face" of the organization he or she represents. "Face" also refers to reputation or standing in society, particularly Chinese society and is spoken of as a resource which can be won or lost. Because of the association with individuality the anonymous is sometimes called the "faceless".

Plastic surgery

Cosmetic surgery can be used to alter the appearance of the facial features. ^[3] Plastic surgery may also be used in cases of facial trauma, injury to the face. Severely disfigured individuals have recently received full face transplants.

Caricatures

Caricatures often exaggerate facial features to make a face more easily recognized in association with a pronounced portion of the face of the individual in question—for example, a caricature of Osama bin Laden might focus on his facial hair and nose; a caricature of George W. Bush might enlarge his ears to the size of an elephant's; a caricature of Jay Leno may pronounce his head and chin; and a caricature of Mick Jagger might enlarge his lips. Exaggeration of memorable features helps people to recognize others when presented in a caricature form. ^[4]

See also

Look up face in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Face

• Blackface
• Diprosopus
• Face perception
• Loss of face
• Making a face
• Physiognomy
• Prosopon
• Prosopagnosia

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References

1. ^ Dictionary.com
2. ^ Anatomy of the Face and Head Underlying Facial Expression
3. ^ MedlinePlus: Plastic and Cosmetic Surgery
4. ^ information about caricatures

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