An Analysis of Preoperative and Postoperative Photography Available on the Internet for Facial Aesthetic Surgery

Abstract

Preoperative and postoperative photography is a powerful tool that remains integral to the practice of cosmetic surgery. The purpose of this study is 2-fold. The first is to evaluate the standardization of surgical photography used on physician Web sites for 3 specific facial cosmetic procedures, including preoperative and postoperative blepharoplasty, face-lift, and laser resurfacing. The second part of the study evaluates the standardization of photography presented by industry to promote their lasers and energy-based devices. Internet images were judged by 3 independent physicians on 2 qualities: (1) standardization of lighting/flash and (2) standardization of camera positioning/angle/zoom. Each set of images received a “pass” or “fail” based on 2 of 3 physician ratings. A total of 51.3% of images (blepharoplasty 51%, face-lift 56%, laser 47%) collected from physician Web sites failed at least 1 component (either lighting or position) of analysis. Images from industry Web sites showed only a 35% fail rate for at least 1 component of the image analysis and had a higher pass/pass percentage compared with physician Web sites. Manipulation of the camera by the photographers may result in images that are not helpful to patients or to the profession.