There are several distinct eye shapes, and most people’s eyes fall into one or a combination of categories: almond, round, monolid, hooded, upturned, downturned, deep-set, and protruding. These shapes are determined by a few specific features, including whether your eyelid has a visible crease, how much white shows around your iris, and the angle of your outer corners. Identifying your own eye shape comes down to checking a few quick landmarks in the mirror.
Almond Eyes
Almond eyes are one of the most commonly referenced shapes. The defining feature is a visible crease running across the entire upper eyelid, combined with an iris that touches both the top and bottom eyelid. If you look straight into a mirror and see no white above or below the colored part of your eye, but you do see a clear lid crease, your eyes are likely almond-shaped. The overall outline tapers slightly at both corners, resembling the shape of an almond.
Round Eyes
Round eyes also have a visible upper eyelid crease, but the key difference from almond eyes is that some white (the sclera) is visible above or below the iris, or both. This extra white space gives the eye a wider, more open appearance. People with round eyes often look naturally alert or expressive because more of the eye’s surface area is on display.
Monolid Eyes
Monolid eyes lack the arc-shaped crease between the eyelashes and the eyebrow that most other eye shapes share. Instead, the skin of the upper eyelid is smooth from the brow down to the lash line, creating a single, uninterrupted surface. The term “monolid” comes from “mono,” meaning one, since the eyelid appears as one continuous section rather than being divided into two visible parts by a fold.
Monolid eyes frequently feature epicanthic folds, where the skin of the upper eyelid extends over the inner corner of the eye near the nose. This is an extremely common trait in people of East Asian descent, though it appears across many ethnicities. Monolid eyes are sometimes confused with hooded eyes, but they’re structurally different: hooded eyes have a crease that’s simply hidden by a fold of skin, while monolid eyes have no crease at all.
Hooded Eyes
With hooded eyes, a crease does exist on the upper eyelid, but an extra fold of skin from below the brow drapes over it, partially or fully concealing it. This makes the visible lid space between the lash line and the brow appear smaller. Hooded eyes are extremely common and become more prevalent with age as the skin around the eyes naturally loosens and descends.
There’s an important distinction between naturally hooded eyes and a medical condition called ptosis. Ptosis occurs when the muscle responsible for lifting the upper eyelid weakens or separates from the lid, causing it to droop or sag. While hooded eyes are a structural trait related to the skin and brow bone, ptosis is a functional issue with the eyelid muscle itself. If one eyelid suddenly appears more hooded than the other, or if drooping starts to interfere with vision, that points toward ptosis rather than a naturally hooded shape.
Upturned and Downturned Eyes
These two shapes are defined by the angle between the inner and outer corners of the eye, sometimes called the canthal tilt. To check yours, imagine drawing a straight line from your inner corner to your outer corner. If the outer corner sits higher than the inner corner, you have upturned eyes (a positive canthal tilt). If the outer corner angles downward relative to the inner corner, you have downturned eyes (a negative canthal tilt).
Upturned eyes create a subtle cat-eye effect even without makeup. Downturned eyes give a softer, more relaxed look. Neither shape affects vision or eye health. Most people have a slight tilt in one direction or the other, and perfectly horizontal corners are relatively uncommon.
Deep-Set and Protruding Eyes
Eye depth refers to how far forward or back your eyes sit relative to the brow bone and the surrounding orbital socket. Deep-set eyes are positioned further back in the skull, which makes the brow bone appear more prominent and creates a natural shadow across the upper lid. If your brow bone feels like it juts out noticeably over your eyes, you likely have deep-set eyes.
Protruding eyes are the opposite. They project outward from the socket, making the eyes appear larger and more prominent in the face. This is a normal anatomical variation, not to be confused with a sudden bulging of the eyes, which can be a sign of thyroid or other medical issues.
Wide-Set and Close-Set Eyes
Eye spacing is about the distance between your two eyes, not the shape of the eye itself, but it significantly affects how your eye shape reads on your face. The standard reference point is the width of one of your own eyes. If the gap between your inner corners is wider than one eye-width, your eyes are wide-set. If the gap is narrower than one eye-width, they’re close-set. Spacing that’s roughly equal to one eye-width is considered average.
How to Identify Your Eye Shape
You can figure out your own eye shape in about 30 seconds with a mirror and good lighting. Start with these three checkpoints:
- Crease check: Look straight ahead. If you see a defined fold across your upper eyelid, you have a crease (ruling out monolid). If a fold of skin covers that crease, your eyes are hooded.
- White space check: Still looking straight ahead, notice whether white is visible above or below your iris. White showing means round eyes. If your iris touches both the upper and lower lids with no white gaps, you have almond eyes.
- Corner angle check: Compare the height of your outer corner to your inner corner. Higher outer corner means upturned, lower means downturned.
Keep in mind that eye shape isn’t always a single category. You might have almond-shaped eyes that are also upturned and deep-set, or round eyes that are hooded and wide-set. Most people are a combination of two or three traits layered together. The primary shape (almond, round, monolid) describes the lid structure, while secondary traits like tilt, depth, and spacing describe positioning on the face.
Eye shape also changes over time. The skin around the eyes is some of the thinnest on the body, and as it loses elasticity with age, eyes that were once round or almond-shaped can gradually take on a more hooded appearance. This is a normal part of aging and happens to most people to some degree.