Hmong eyes: iris color, shape and epicanthic fold in 20 observed portraits
Hmong: iris color Very dark brown / black-appearing in 53% of 17; eye shape Almond in 65% of 20; upper eyelid crease type Single eyelid (monolid, no crease) in 70% of 20; epicanthic fold Tarsalis in 100% of 20; palpebral fissure slant Slight upslant in 100% of 20; eyebrow shape Soft arch in 57% of 21.
Catalog portraits for Hmong are AI-generated adult subjects; the measurements on this page come from documented photographs of real people, not from these images.
Iris color
n = 17 assessable · 5 not assessablePredominant color of the iris. Heterochromia is captured as its own value; mixed colors (e.g. hazel, blue-green) get distinct buckets.
| Value | Share | n | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Very dark brown / black-appearingIris appears nearly black under typical lighting; high melanin content. Common in East Asian, South Asian, Sub-Saharan African, and indigenous populations. | 53% | 9 | |
| dark brown | 35% | 6 | |
| BrownMedium to dark brown iris; visible iris detail. | 12% | 2 |
Vocabulary: Iris color (iris_color_qualitative)
Eye shape
n = 20 assessableOverall shape of the visible eye, considering the silhouette of the upper and lower lid margins together. Independent dimension from eyelid_crease_type and epicanthic_fold, which capture finer morphological variation.
| Value | Share | n | |
|---|---|---|---|
| AlmondSlightly elongated horizontal axis; mild taper at lateral and medial canthi. Considered the aesthetic reference shape. | 65% | 13 | |
| Monolid (no visible crease)Smooth upper lid with no visible supratarsal crease. Common in East Asian populations; associated with single eyelid morphology. | 25% | 5 | |
| HoodedUpper lid skin descends over the lid crease, partially or fully covering the upper lid platform. Often associated with periorbital aging but can be constitutional. | 10% | 2 |
Vocabulary: Eye shape (eye_shape_qualitative)
Upper eyelid crease type
n = 20 assessableMorphology of the upper eyelid supratarsal crease. The single most ethnically-variant periocular dimension. The Asian-ophthalmology / Asian-blepharoplasty literature provides the canonical classification system, distinguishing several functional and aesthetic patterns.
| Value | Share | n | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Single eyelid (monolid, no crease)No visible supratarsal crease; smooth upper lid skin. Approximately 50% of East Asian populations. | 70% | 14 | |
| Double, low (~3-5mm above lash line)Crease present but sits low on the lid, close to the lash line. Common in East Asian populations with double lids. | 30% | 6 |
Vocabulary: Upper eyelid crease type (mccurdy_chen_eyelid_crease)
Epicanthic fold
n = 20 assessablePresence and morphology of the epicanthic fold — the skin fold of the upper eyelid that may cover the medial canthus. Significant ethnic variation; high prevalence in East Asian, Central Asian, and indigenous American populations.
| Value | Share | n | |
|---|---|---|---|
| TarsalisFold begins at the upper lid skin and inserts on the lower lid, covering the medial canthus. The most common epicanthic-fold variant in East Asian populations. | 100% | 20 |
Vocabulary: Epicanthic fold (duke_elder_epicanthus_classification)
Palpebral fissure slant
n = 20 assessableAngle of the palpebral fissure axis (line from medial to lateral canthus) relative to horizontal. Significant ethnic variation; East Asian populations average steeper upslant than European populations.
| Value | Share | n | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Slight upslantLateral canthus slightly higher than medial; ~5-10° above horizontal. Within the European aesthetic reference range. | 100% | 20 |
Vocabulary: Palpebral fissure slant (fissure_axis_qualitative)
Eyebrow shape
n = 21 assessableOverall arch and shape of the eyebrow as visible in the photograph.
| Value | Share | n | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Soft archGentle, gradual arch; arch peak in the lateral two-thirds. | 57% | 12 | |
| StraightMinimal arch; nearly horizontal brow line. | 38% | 8 | |
| Flat / descendingNo arch; brow descends laterally toward the temple. | 5% | 1 |
Vocabulary: Eyebrow shape (eyebrow_shape_qualitative)
Where these numbers come from
22 publicly documented portraits of notable Hmong people were assessed by a vision model against the full 22-vocabulary schema, one value per dimension. Values are what the photographs show, read by a model, not population measurements. Each table counts only portraits where the value could be assessed; covered, obscured and unclear portraits are reported separately.
Notable-people corpora skew older, so hair color over-represents gray and white, and image quality varies. Treat shares as a description of this sample.
These rows are not yet in the published catalog dataset, which currently carries the earlier single-row analysis; see the methodology. A family page exists only when at least 10 portraits carry an assessable value.