Cosmetic Surgery New York: Photos: Before and After
Photos can be a useful tool for doctors to use when teaching about the principles behind cosmetic surgery. As with illustrations found in a book, they help to more completely convey the ideas brought forth through words alone. However, since visual impressions are very powerful in the human brain, often taking precedence over things heard, one must be careful in the use images within discussions about cosmetic surgery.
What must be clear from the start is that "before and after" images of past surgery patients do not illustrate what the prospective patient will look like if surgery is pursued.
Used properly, photos can be a springboard to helpful discussion between
doctor and patient as the two explore the patient's goals and how
those goals relate to real-world surgical techniques. Photos can be used
to show:
- where scars will be
- the general kinds of changes that can be accomplished with a specific surgical technique
- the shortcomings and limitations of surgery
It is particularly helpful to the patient's education if the cosmetic surgeon provides photos of a number of cases that reflect a range of outcomes. If care is taken to acknowledge and discuss not only what is good about a result, but what its flaws are, the prospective patient will be given a more realistic idea of what surgery can actually accomplish. This, in turn, may help determine if the individual is a good candidate for treatment.
(Note: The photos presented on this site are meant to present such a range of results, and all depict both improvements with surgery as well as imperfections. It must be remembered that photos are only still, two dimensional records of results at certain points in time.)
Computer Transformation of Patient Images
The computer has been used by some cosmetic surgeons to alter patient pre-operative photos in an effort to provide glimpse at what surgery might achieve for that individual. The accuracy of such manipulations is extremely limited in illustrating changes for patients needing pure, soft tissue surgery (e.g. abdominoplasty, breast lift, etc.). However, for other forms of treatment that involve changes to the hard tissues (e.g. rhinoplasty, chin augmentation), computer manipulation can be cautiously used to portray how certain surgical maneuvers might be expected to alter outward appearance. While an experienced rhinoplasty surgeon can often manufacture a reasonable "after" image from a pre-operative photograph, differences will always be seen between such facsimiles and true post-operative images should the patient pursue surgery.
