Size and Perception of Facial Features with Selfie Photographs, and Their Implication in Rhinoplasty and Facial Plastic Surgery

Overview

Patients increasingly bring selfies to discuss their goals with a surgeon. The study quantified how facial feature size and perception change in a selfie compared with clinical photography. Thirty volunteers took three photograph series: at 12 inches and 18 inches with a front facing smartphone camera, and at 5 feet with a digital single lens reflex camera. Subjects then completed the FACE-Q inventory twice, once viewing their selfies and once viewing the clinical photographs.

Sections of note

• Study of 30 volunteers; diagnostic level of evidence III.
• Measurements were taken of the nose, lip, chin and facial width.
• Nasal length was on average 6.4 percent longer in 12 inch selfies than in clinical photographs.
• Nasal length was 4.3 percent longer in 18 inch selfies than in clinical photographs.
• Alar base width did not change significantly in either selfie set.
• The ratio of alar base width to facial width, representing nose size relative to the face, decreased 10.8 percent in 12 inch selfies, P less than 0.0001.
• That ratio decreased 7.8 percent in 18 inch selfies, P less than 0.0001.
• The authors state the data allow a more precise conversation between surgeon and patient.

What it means for a patient

• A selfie makes the nose look longer and, relative to the face, changes its apparent proportion.
• The closer the phone, the greater the distortion.
• A patient bringing a selfie to a consultation may be describing a nose that the camera exaggerated.
• Thirty volunteers is a small sample and the study measured photographs, not surgical results.

Why this paper matters

Consultations increasingly start from images patients take themselves, and camera distance is known to distort facial proportions. This study quantifies that distortion for the specific measurements rhinoplasty surgeons use. Whether correcting for it changes what patients request or accept is unaddressed.

Terms

• Selfie: a photograph taken with a front facing smartphone camera at arm's length.
• Clinical photography: standardized photographs taken at a fixed distance with professional equipment.
• Alar base width: the distance across the outer edges of the nostrils.
• Nasal length: the distance from the root of the nose to the tip.
• FACE-Q: a validated questionnaire on satisfaction with facial appearance.