HOW TO LOOK AT PHOTOS

Beware! It can be very tricky and confusing to look at photographs of plastic surgery patients on the internet if you do not know what to look for in these photos:

1. Make sure that the photographic technique is absolutely standardized, in terms of lighting, angle, and focal length of the camera lens. Unintentional or intentional variation of these can easily make the preoperative photograph look worse and the post-op photograph look better than they actually were.
   
   
2. Conformity of photographic technique also tells you something about the care, precision, attention to detail, and seriousness of the plastic surgeon.
   
   
3. Realize that you are looking at volume, and that in most cases you need to see more than one view so that you can imagine what is really going on with the patient.
   
   
4. Breast augmentation photos almost always look good when taken at an oblique angle. The side view shows you bulging and vertical proportion, and the front view shows you if there is symmetry. It is nearly meaningless to look at breast photos taken from only the oblique view.
   
   
5. Standardization of post-op interval is also important. There is usually one view that looks great at one post-operative visit for any patient, so there needs to be some relative standardization.
   
   
6. Except for the immediate postoperative period, realize that early results (2-6 months) usually look best, because during that time the noticeable swelling is gone, but there is just enough swelling left to obscure irregularities and make the skin look a little smoother. It is important to evaluate nasal, facial, and especially breast photographs at a year or more.
   
   
7. A broken clock is right twice a day; any surgeon should be able to show a bunch of good results. So look at the scope of his or her work, including operations you may not even be interested in, so that you get an overall impression of their style. After a while, you will start to see a difference between different doctors.
   
   
8. A plastic surgeon does what the patient asks, but within that context, the plastic surgeon's taste and aesthetic still shows through. Just as plastic surgeons would disagree, for instance, on whom they think is the most beautiful woman in the world, so too would they strive for slightly different results. Give yourself the chance to look at photographs and determine which plastic surgeon seems to have a taste that best matches your own.