Cet article est actuellement disponible en anglais uniquement.
These days patients sometimes bring not a photo of someone else, but an AI-generated version of their own face. In a survey published recently in the UK, 15 percent of aesthetic surgeons said they had seen patients come to consultations with AI-edited photos of themselves.
It is a very understandable trend. In a few seconds you can see a version of your own face with a "neater nose" or a "more defined jaw". But it is important to separate what these images can tell us from what they cannot.
How is it different from someone else's photo?
I think there is an important difference here. When you look at someone else's photo, you know it is a different face. You can more or less guess that their nose would not look the same on your face. AI, on the other hand, gives you the feeling that "this is you, just slightly altered". That makes the image much more convincing, and the expectation much more concrete.
What AI does not know
A photo shows only the surface of the face. In surgery, we work with everything beneath that surface. AI does not know:
- Your skin thickness: thick skin hides the fine details beneath it, so a sharp nasal tip on screen may not look as sharp on someone with thick skin. Thin skin, on the other hand, shows every irregularity underneath.
- Your cartilage structure: cartilage determines the shape and support of the nose. How much it can be reduced or reshaped depends on the strength of this framework.
- Your bone anatomy: the structure of the nasal bones and the overall proportions of the facial skeleton directly affect the result.
- How you heal: how long swelling lasts and how tissues heal varies from person to person, and is not something software can calculate.
Anything is possible on a screen; in surgery the nose also has to breathe
On a screen, for example, you can make the nose as small as you like. In surgery, that nose has to be in harmony with the face and still let you breathe. If the internal structures of the nose are weakened or narrowed too much, a nose that looks good from the outside may not let enough air through on the inside. That is why shape and function are always planned together in rhinoplasty.
The photo itself can be misleading
The photo you give to the AI may not fully reflect reality either. Close-up front-camera photos can make the nose look larger than it is because of the wide-angle lens. Lighting, angle and filters also change the image. In other words, both the starting point and the target image may differ from your real face.
So are these images useless?
I am not against these images. They can even be helpful in understanding what the patient wants. Descriptions such as "more natural" or "slightly more upturned" do not mean the same thing to everyone. An image can make the idea in the patient's mind concrete and make the conversation easier.
- Bring the imagesThere is nothing wrong with bringing the images you have prepared to your consultation.
- Explain what you likeRather than the image as a whole, it helps to say what in particular appeals to you: the hump on the bridge, the direction of the tip, the width?
- Examination and assessmentYour skin, cartilage, bone structure and the internal structures of the nose are examined, and any breathing problem is checked.
- A realistic planWhat is possible with your anatomy and what will suit your face is discussed together.
Frequently asked questions
Will the result look the same as the AI image? No image, whether made with AI or with computer simulation, is a guarantee of the result. They are only tools that make the conversation easier.
Is it better to bring a photo of someone else's nose? Both can give an idea. What matters is that the image is treated as a goal and that the plan is made for your face.
Can I bring more than one image? Of course. Seeing what you like in common across different images often makes it even easier to understand your expectations.
Cet article est fourni Ă titre dâinformation gĂ©nĂ©rale et ne remplace pas un examen.