Good question - photos are very important but need to be viewed wisely

This is an excellent question!

The best situation in my opinion occurs when a prospective patient sits down with a plastic surgeon and runs through many photos (un-retouched or digitally altered!) of that surgeon's own patients. I personally spend an hour with each new patient and do not relegate this to any body else. The subtleties of each photograph can only be explained in person and are often missed on web sites.

Also, about 75% of patients don't really know what they look like and so finding comparable patients to themselves on web sites is obviously impossible!

The photos are an excellent way of examining what the skills of the surgeon are and what they think looks good. You should see in that doctor's results something that you would like for yourself if you are going to have surgery by them.

This is a great question, and unfortunately there is no easy answer. Just looking at website photos alone are not enough, and I think it is very helpful for a patient to sit down with the surgeon and go over the pictures directly, so the surgeon can describe to you specifically what he sees and how he aimed to improve it-- this will also allow you to decide if you and the surgeon have a similar aesthetic ideal.

Another option is to speak to his patients directly-- they will give you their honest impression as to if they were happy with the results and also if the results were long-lasting.

In the end, you have to decide if you trust the surgeon to get you the result you desire, and I think meeting him or her face to face will go a long way in helping you make this decision.

Dr. S