Is facial anatomic reconstruction a precise science?

Has it been tested? For example, has a skull of a deceased person that has had photographs taken an who we know what he looks like been given to people to make an image based on the skull to be compared with what the person actually looked like?Is facial anatomic reconstruction a precise science?
No, it is not a precise science as much as it is an art. There are parts of it that have decent precision such as the depths of muscle and skin expected over particular areas of the skull. Obviously the color of the eyes, length of the nose, size of the ears, and hair type, is more guess work. As far as the general features of the face being reconstructed on the skull, the work can be an uncanny resemblance to the original person.





Some of the guesswork is assisted by DNA analysis and common threads associated in knowing race,age and gender help to hone in the resultant dimensions. Similar to a photograph of a missing baby or young child and an evolutionary rendition of how that child probably looks like as an adult. These are not always accurate either and we know what the person looked like as a child. Many times though looking at the age adjusted rendition can be remarkably close to the reality.