According to a research letter recently published by the journal JAMA Facial Plastic Surgery, you would need 5-foot arms to take the perfect selfie because that’s the ideal distance for taking a picture in which your facial features aren’t distorted by the camera.
“Oftentimes, selfies are taken just 12 inches away from the face, which can result in a “funhouse mirror” effect and make your nose look up to 30 percent bigger than it actually is,” facial plastic surgeon Boris Paskhover, MD, study co-author, said via Live Science.
“For years, I’ve heard patients and family members say, ‘Oh, look at my nose, it looks so big,’ when they show me a selfie,” Dr. Paskhover said. “I was always telling my patients, that’s not how you really look. I knew that selfies distort how your nose looks. And I wanted to prove it.”
