Before and after photographs of plastic surgery procedures are commonplace today. They are present on doctor’s , societies and referral websites. Thousands upon thousands of plastic surgery procedure photographs are available all over the internet. While not long ago a plastic surgeon had a book of before and after pictures in their office for patients to view so they could decide if they liked what the procedure can do, patients today want to see a doctor’s results first to determine if they even want to go there. The proliferation of the internet has made posting of before and after photographs a necessity for any plastic surgery practice today.
The original use of before and after photographs, however, was to convey a sense of happiness from the result of the surgery. To sell the observation, so to speak, that the changes of cosmetic surgery can make one happy. According to Sander Gilman in his book entitled Making The Body Beautiful, the first before and after photographs were from the Civil War of reconstructed noses and faces and by the 1880s aesthetic surgeons quickly followed suit. Since that time, photographic quality, detail and standardization has improved but the intent has always been to show how much better the patient looks and how much happier they must be after. This intent can clearly be seen even today with many before facial photographs showing the patient without makeup and looking sullen… and the postoperative picture with the patient in makeup and in better spirits.
But the plethora of plastic surgery photographs today and their immediate availability on the internet has evolved into a more sophisticated purpose. Patients now presume that the results from plastic surgery will make them happy. That has been well proven and documented. What they want to know is how much difference can the procedure make and is it significant enough to go through the procedure. They are looking for someone that may look like them and are using those results to determine if it is worth it for them. …or whether you can duplicate this same result on them. Many patients now come in with pictures printed off of the internet (often not from my websites) and use them as a discussion point. This is particularly true in facial surgery.
It is likely that whom the patient choses to see today as their plastic surgeon is highly influenced by not only whether they have pictures posted but by whether the patient thinks the results they are seeing is good. Patients are no longer primarily interested in whether cosmetic surgery can make them happy, but by what plastic surgeon can give them the results they are after.
Dr. Barry Eppley
Indianapolis, Indiana