The Este Med Clinic in Istanbul, Turkey, took the Internet by storm recently with a before-and-after photo of a patient referred to only as Michael. The after photo showed the man at least a couple of decades younger, his wrinkled skin now as tight as a 20-year-old’s, a full head of hair, and a perfectly sculpted nose. Michael looked so good in his after photo that social media users wondered if the clinic had a time machine. Had the two photos not been posted together, most people would never have guessed they were the same person. The clinic claimed that Michael had gone through several surgeries to achieve the incredible transformation, including a facelift, necklift, lower eyelid blepharoplasty, upper blepharoplasty, buccal fat removal, rhinoplasty, and a hair transplant. With social media not buying it, plastic surgeon Dr. Nigel Mercer chimed in, saying that the transformations are so extreme that digital editing or something similar must be at play. He pointed out that the after picture of Michael has his skin looking like that of a 35-year-old and “that’s just not possible.” Dr. Mercer pointed out that the eyebrow shape before and after are completely different, as is the shape of the face. Another before-and-after photo of “Mrs. Dilek” went viral shortly after Michael’s photos, and this one showed an even more amazing transformation. An elderly woman had been turned into a young, beautiful woman, and while makeup definitely helped, the two photos couldn’t look more different. Once again, Dr. Mercer pointed out that the skin quality is totally different and the woman's eyes are even different colors in the photos. The verdict is still out on whether Este Med used digital editing to improve the results of plastic surgery, but all this attention could prove a double-edged sword. It might draw in clients, but failing to live up to their expectations could turn out to be a disaster.
