Perceptual drift: why I measure before I correct

The eye adapts quickly

Our eyes adapt within days to what they see every day. After a treatment, the change looks clear, then it becomes the new normal. The memory of the face before fades, and the wish may arise to do a little more, to find the effect of the first day again.

A study published in 2023 interviewed women whose lips had been visibly distorted by injections. Many described this shift: after seeing so many retouched faces, especially on social media, their idea of a natural face had moved.

Why "a little more" ends up being too much

Hyaluronic acid is absorbed by the body, but more slowly than is often believed. MRI scans have found product several years after the last injection, well beyond the duration usually announced. Adding regularly without measuring therefore means piling up. This is how overfilled faces form, faces that no longer look like the person.

What I set against it: measurements

Before any treatment, I photograph your face in standardised conditions: same light, same distance, same angles. The computer analysis places hundreds of landmarks and calculates measurements in millimetres. At every check-up, we take exactly the same photographs again.

So we do not compare a memory with a mirror, but images with images. If the proportions are right, we add nothing. This is why standardised photography is recommended in aesthetic medicine: without it, every comparison remains subjective.

Knowing when to say no

My role is not only to respond to a request. It is also to tell you when a treatment will bring nothing, or when it would cost the face its harmony. Saying "not now" is part of aesthetic medicine.

Finally, there is a particular situation: body dysmorphic disorder, an excessive concern about a slight flaw, or one others cannot see. It affects about 2% of the general population, but nearly one in ten people among those seen in cosmetic dermatology. Aesthetic treatments rarely improve it. If I suspect it, I will talk to you about it with tact and can refer you to a colleague.