Hunter Eyes: What They Are and Whether You Can Get Them

Hunter eyes are one of the most searched-for features in online appearance communities, particularly among men. The phrase comes from looksmaxxing forums, where eyes are sorted into “hunter” and “prey” types, and it has since spread across TikTok, YouTube and Instagram along with a wave of hunter eyes exercises and tutorials promising to change your eye shape. Behind the slang sits real anatomy: the brow, the upper and lower eyelids, the canthal tilt of the outer corner, and the bone of the eye socket.

This guide explains what hunter eyes actually are, how they differ from prey eyes, how to tell whether you have them, whether they are genetic, what research says about how they are perceived, and what non-surgical treatments and eyelid surgery can and cannot change. If you are trying to work out your own eye shape first, our guide to eye shapes is a good starting point, and our page on canthoplasty covers the one procedure most often linked with the hunter eye look.

What Are Hunter Eyes? Hunter Eyes Meaning

Hunter eyes is a slang term for a particular combination of eye-area features. It is not a diagnosis and it is not used in plastic surgery or ophthalmology, but the features it describes are easy to define:

• Deep-set eyes. The eye sits well back beneath a projecting brow ridge, so the upper part of the eye is partly shaded.
• A low, straight brow. The eyebrow sits close to the eye, often along or just below the bony rim of the eye socket, with little arch.
• Little upper eyelid show. Very little of the upper eyelid is visible between the lashes and the fold above when the eyes are open.
• A slightly positive canthal tilt. The outer corner sits a little higher than the inner corner.
• No white below the iris. The lower lid meets or slightly covers the bottom edge of the coloured part of the eye.
• A horizontally long, almond shape. The eye opening is longer than it is tall, which is why they are often called almond hunter eyes. On hunter eyes vs almond eyes, the difference is depth and brow position: hunter eyes are almond-shaped, but many almond eyes sit forward under a higher brow and do not read as hunter eyes at all.

Together these create the focused, slightly narrowed look the term describes, which is why hunter eyes are also called predator eyes. The “hunter” label is a metaphor rather than biology: the idea is that the eyes look watchful and intense rather than wide and startled. On hunter eyes vs hooded eyes, the features overlap, but they are not the same thing. Hooding describes skin folding down over the eyelid; hunter eyes are defined mainly by the depth of the eye and the position of the brow. Hooded hunter eyes are common, though, because a low brow tends to bring a little skin down over the lid with it.

Deep-set eyes vs hunter eyes

Deep-set eyes are the foundation of the hunter look, but the two terms are not interchangeable. Deep-set eyes simply sit further back beneath the brow ridge. If the brow above them is high and arched, or white shows below the iris, the overall effect is not the hunter pattern. Eye depth depends on the bone of the socket and the brow ridge, so deep-set eyes are largely inherited, and there is no reliable way to get deep-set eyes if yours naturally sit forward. They are also different from sunken eyes, where the area around the eye hollows out through fat loss, illness or ageing.

Hunter Eyes vs Prey Eyes

Prey eyes are the pattern set against hunter eyes, and comparing hunter vs prey eyes is the clearest way to understand both. Prey eyes are rounder and more open, with a brow that sits higher and arches, a band of upper eyelid clearly visible, an outer corner that is level with or lower than the inner corner, and often a strip of white visible below the iris, known clinically as scleral show.

In the prey eyes vs hunter eyes debate, neither type is a problem to be fixed. Large, open eyes with a visible upper lid are widely considered attractive, especially in women, and many people sit somewhere between the two. The hunter eyes vs prey eyes framing also ignores the rest of the face: the same eye can look very different depending on the nose, cheekbones and jaw around it, which is one reason ratings of single features, like the golden ratio, say little about how a whole face is seen.

Do I Have Hunter Eyes? How to Tell

Take a photo straight on, at eye level, in even daylight, with a relaxed face and your eyes looking at the lens. Photos taken from below, with a wide-angle phone lens or while smiling or squinting, distort all of the features below. Then check:

• Brow position: does your brow sit on or just below the bony rim above your eye, or clearly above it?
• Upper lid show: with your eyes open, how much eyelid can you see between your lashes and the fold above? Very little suggests the hunter pattern.
• Depth: from the side, does your brow ridge project further forward than the front of your eye?
• Tilt: draw a line from the inner corner to the outer corner. Is the outer end higher, level or lower?
• Lower lid: can you see white between the lower lid and the bottom of your iris?
• Shape: is your eye opening noticeably longer than it is tall?

Most people will find they have some hunter features and some prey features. That is normal: there is no clear line between hunter eyes and normal eyes, only a range. Our canthal tilt guide explains how to measure the tilt properly, because it is the feature people most often get wrong from photos.

Are Hunter Eyes Genetic?

Largely, yes. The features that define hunter eyes are set mostly by the skeleton, and the shape of the skeleton is strongly inherited. A 2017 study in the journal Genetics used 3D imaging to measure 38 facial traits in hundreds of related children and found that individual traits had heritability estimates of between 28% and 67%^[1]. In other words, a large share of the difference between one face and another is down to genes.

The main structures involved are:

• The brow ridge. How far the bone above the eye projects decides how deep-set the eye looks.
• The eye socket. The depth and shape of the socket, and how far forward the eye sits within it, vary between individuals and between ethnic backgrounds. People of East Asian heritage often have a flatter brow ridge and a lower or absent lid crease, so Asian hunter eyes usually owe more to the tilt and the shape of the lid than to depth (our guide to monolid eyes covers this anatomy).
• The cheekbone and lower rim of the socket. Good bony support beneath the eye holds the lower lid up against the eye, reducing scleral show.
• The outer corner tendon. The tendon that anchors the outer corner of the eyelids sets the canthal tilt.

There is also a clear difference between the sexes. A 2026 analysis of 280 CT scans found that men had more prominent frontal bossing and wider brows than women, among other differences across the whole facial skeleton^[2]. Male brows also tend to sit lower and flatter, close to the rim of the socket, while female brows sit higher and arch above it. That is why the hunter eye pattern is more common in men and why it is so closely tied to masculine appearance online.

Genes are not the whole story, because the eye area changes with age. The brow gradually descends, the eyelid skin loosens and the outer corner can drift down. In early adulthood this can make eyes look more hooded and “hunter-like”; later it more often produces heaviness and tiredness, covered in our guide to droopy eyebrows.

Are Hunter Eyes Attractive? What the Research Says

Online, hunter eyes are treated as the most attractive eye type for men. The research is more nuanced. What the eye area signals depends on the whole face, and features associated with hunter eyes tend to make faces look more dominant and intense rather than simply more attractive.

In a 2025 study of 2,081 people published in the Journal of Plastic, Reconstructive & Aesthetic Surgery, participants rated versions of the same face in which the outer brow and the outer corner of the eye had been digitally raised, the upward, lifted direction that much hunter eye advice pushes towards. Raising either one made the face look more masculine, dominant and threatening, and less attractive, feminine and trustworthy, and combining the two strengthened the effect^[3].

An earlier 2008 study in Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery changed one eye-area feature at a time in a photograph of a young face. Lowering the inner part of the brow was read as anger, a drooping outer brow or lowered upper eyelid was read as tiredness, and the shape of the brow changed perceived expression more than its absolute height^[4]. That helps explain the hunter eye appeal: a low, straight, slightly lowered brow reads as focus and intensity. It also explains why the look can tip into seeming cross or tired.

Hunter eyes male vs hunter eyes female: men and women

Hunter eyes in men get most of the attention online, but women can have hunter eyes too, and many do. The features are simply read differently. A 2024 review of what makes the eye area attractive in women found consistent preferences for a slight upward tilt, no white showing below the iris and a visible, well-defined upper lid crease with the eye open enough to show the upper half of the iris^[5]. The first two overlap with hunter eyes; the third is closer to the prey pattern. In practice, attractive eyes in women and men usually combine features from both columns rather than sitting at one extreme.

What is the most attractive eye type?

There isn’t one. Across studies, the eye features rated well tend to be the ones that look healthy and rested: no scleral show, a gentle rather than steep tilt, and an eye that is neither hidden nor staring. Overdoing any one feature backfires. In a 2026 study of Caucasian and Chinese observers, faces with a digitally raised outer brow and outer eye corner were rated among the least attractive of all the modifications tested^[6], which is the same risk that makes aggressive “fox eye” procedures look unnatural (see our guide to fox eye surgery).

How to Get Hunter Eyes: What Works and What Doesn’t

The core of the hunter eye look is bone, so the honest answer to “can you get hunter eyes?” is that you cannot create them from scratch. What you can do is make the most of the soft tissue around the eye.

Do hunter eyes exercises work?

No. Hunter eyes exercise routines usually involve squinting the lower lids, holding the upper lids down or massaging the brow. These contract or stretch the muscle around the eye for a few seconds. They do not move the brow ridge, deepen the eye socket or reposition the tendon at the outer corner, and there is no research showing a lasting change in eye shape. Videos showing a difference after 30 days are usually comparing a relaxed face with a squinting one.

Mewing and bone smashing for hunter eyes

Mewing, a tongue posture technique, and bone smashing, repeatedly striking the face to try to provoke bone growth, are promoted as ways to get hunter eyes naturally. There is no evidence that mewing reshapes the adult facial skeleton, and bone smashing risks fractures, nerve damage and injury to the eye itself. Our looksmaxxing guide covers both in detail.

How to get hunter eyes naturally: what genuinely helps

• Reducing puffiness. Poor sleep, alcohol, a salty evening meal and hay fever all make the lids and under-eyes puffier, which rounds the eye and hides its shape. Our guide to getting rid of eye bags explains which kinds of puffiness respond to lifestyle changes.
• A lower body fat level. Losing excess weight thins the fat in the face and can make the brow ridge and cheekbones more visible, which can make the eyes look more deep-set.
• Brow grooming. Brow shape changes expression more than brow height^[4], so keeping a fuller, straighter brow and avoiding over-plucking a high arch shifts the look towards the hunter pattern at no risk.
• Posture and camera angle. Photos taken from slightly above, or with the chin lowered, show less upper lid and make the brow look lower. Many hunter eyes examples online are partly an effect of angle.

Can fillers or anti-wrinkle injections give you hunter eyes?

Anti-wrinkle injections are sometimes sold as a hunter eyes treatment. They can subtly change the shape of the brow for three to four months, but they cannot deepen the eye, and misplaced injections can leave the brow or lid heavy. Tear trough filler can soften hollows and shadows under the eye in suitable patients, but it does not change eye shape and too much filler can look puffy. Our article on non-surgical brow lifts explains the limits of injectables around the brow.

Hunter Eyes Surgery: Can Surgery Give You Hunter Eyes?

Surgery cannot make eyes deep-set, lower the position of the eye socket or change the bone of the brow in a way eyelid surgery reaches. What it can do, in the right patient, is adjust the soft tissue that frames the eye.

Canthoplasty for hunter eyes: changing the outer corner

Canthoplasty repositions the tendon at the outer corner of the eye and can raise a downward-tilting corner towards a neutral or gently positive tilt. Canthopexy is a lesser procedure that tightens and supports the outer corner without detaching it, and it is often used to lift a lax lower lid and reduce white showing below the iris. These are the procedures closest to hunter eyes surgery, but they are delicate operations where small changes alter the whole eye, and the aim at Centre for Surgery is a natural, conservative adjustment rather than a dramatic slant. Our canthal tilt guide explains who is suitable.

Can blepharoplasty give you hunter eyes?

Upper eyelid surgery removes excess skin and sometimes fat. That usually shows more of the upper eyelid, which moves the eye away from the hunter pattern rather than towards it. In the 2008 study described above, simulating the skin removal of an upper blepharoplasty actually made a young face look more tired^[4]. For that reason, male eyelid surgery is planned differently from surgery in women: surgeons remove less skin, keep a lower crease and preserve fullness under the brow so the result stays masculine. Our comparison of blepharoplasty for women and men explains the differences.

Lower eyelid surgery is more relevant. When puffy bags make the eye look rounder and more tired, lower blepharoplasty can remove or reposition the fat, often combined with canthopexy to keep the lower lid firmly supported.

Does a brow lift give you hunter eyes?

A brow lift raises the brow. Since a low brow is central to hunter eyes, a brow lift is only appropriate when the brow has genuinely dropped with age and is weighing on the upper lid. Over-lifting a man’s brow is one of the most common ways to make a face look surprised or feminised.

Brow bone and orbital rim implants

Implants to build up the brow ridge or the bone beneath the eye are specialist craniofacial operations with significant risks, including implant infection, displacement and visible edges. They are not procedures we offer at Centre for Surgery, and they should never be approached as a way to match an online ideal. If your concern is a brow ridge that is too prominent rather than too flat, see our article on reducing the brow bone.

Risks of Hunter Eyes Surgery

The outer corner of the eye has a large effect on how the whole eye looks, and its position is the balancing point that keeps the lower lid in place. A 2025 review of how surgeons manage the outer corner during cosmetic eyelid surgery stressed that keeping the corner in a balanced position is vital to avoid the lower lid pulling away from the eye (ectropion) or new scleral show^[7]. The risks of canthoplasty, canthopexy and blepharoplasty include:

• A lower lid that sits too low or pulls away from the eye, exposing more white
• A rounded, pulled or unnaturally slanted outer corner
• Asymmetry between the two sides
• Dry, gritty or watering eyes
• Swelling of the surface of the eye (chemosis), bruising and visible scarring at the outer corner
• Recurrence of the original tilt as the tissues settle

Poorly judged canthal surgery is one of the most difficult problems in cosmetic surgery to correct, which is why it matters who performs it and why we would not recommend chasing a steep tilt. Our guide to blepharoplasty abroad shows what can go wrong when eyelid surgery is rushed.

Bulging Eyes or More White Showing? When to See a GP

If your eyes have started to look more “prey-like” over months, with more white showing above or below the iris, a staring appearance or eyes that seem to be bulging forward, see your GP rather than a cosmetic clinic. Thyroid eye disease is the commonest cause. In a long-term study of 120 people with the condition, eyelid retraction was present at some point in 90% and bulging of the eyes in around 62%^[8]. Changes affecting one eye only, a lid that has started to droop over the pupil, or double vision also need medical assessment first. Our guide to whether eyelid surgery changes eye shape covers what surgery can do once medical causes have been ruled out.

Frequently Asked Questions

Eye Shape Assessment in London

If the shape of your eyes bothers you, a consultation starts with your anatomy, not an online label: the bone around the eye, the position of your brow, the tilt of the outer corner, the support of the lower lid and the quality of the skin. At Centre for Surgery, eyelid and canthal surgery is performed by GMC-registered plastic surgeons, including surgeons with oculoplastic training, at our CQC-regulated Baker Street hospital, usually under local anaesthetic with sedation or under TIVA when procedures are combined (see our guide to anaesthesia options). The surgeon who assesses you at consultation is the surgeon who performs your surgery. Find out more about male eyelid surgery and cosmetic surgery for men, or see what blepharoplasty costs in London.

Phone: 020 7993 4849 | Address: 95–97 Baker Street, Marylebone, London W1U 6RN
Contact us to schedule a consultation

References

1. Cole JB, Manyama M, Larson JR, et al. Human facial shape and size heritability and genetic correlations. Genetics 2017;205(2):967–978. doi:10.1534/genetics.116.193185
2. Hussein SM, Abu Shehab A, Rames JD, et al. A comprehensive 3D look into male and female facial skeletons: AI-assisted analysis of 280 CT scans. Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery 2026 (published online 12 February 2026). doi:10.1097/PRS.0000000000012920
3. Kempa J, Kasielska-Trojan A, Gabryszewski M, et al. Understanding the impact of eyebrow and lateral canthal height on the perception of character traits: a rating-based analysis of 2081 participants. Journal of Plastic, Reconstructive & Aesthetic Surgery 2025;104:417–425. doi:10.1016/j.bjps.2025.03.040
4. Knoll BI, Attkiss KJ, Persing JA. The influence of forehead, brow, and periorbital aesthetics on perceived expression in the youthful face. Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery 2008;121(5):1793–1802. doi:10.1097/PRS.0b013e31816b13fe
5. Zanchetta-Balint E, Hersant B, Hanan L, Meningaud JP. A biological approach to periorbital aesthetics in Caucasian females: a review of the literature. Aesthetic Surgery Journal 2024;44(8):NP540–NP550. doi:10.1093/asj/sjae097
6. Munoz-Lora VRM, Kempa-Timler J, Hong WJ, et al. Similarities and differences in the perception of artificially modified faces between Caucasian and Chinese observers. Journal of Cosmetic Dermatology 2026;25(5):e70938. doi:10.1111/jocd.70938
7. Peterson E, Schwarcz R. Lateral canthal management in esthetic blepharoplasty, an update. Facial Plastic Surgery Clinics of North America 2026;34(1):157–168. doi:10.1016/j.fsc.2025.08.011
8. Bartley GB, Fatourechi V, Kadrmas EF, et al. Clinical features of Graves’ ophthalmopathy in an incidence cohort. American Journal of Ophthalmology 1996;121(3):284–290. doi:10.1016/s0002-9394(14)70276-4