Computer Morphing Benefits

With the advent of digital photography and the increasingly powerful technology available the role of preoperative computer simulation has grown immensely. I find computer morphing to be a great way for patients to relay to me what level of changes they are interested in achieving. It also allows me to point other related areas of concern and to show what it would look like to change as well.

When Do I Use Morphing Software?

I find computer morphing to be most useful for rhinoplasty, revision rhinoplasty, chin augmentation and neck contouring/facelift surgery. It is harder to use this technology to accurately show changes to surface texture or shadowing or for changes around the eyelids. It is also somewhat more difficult to show changes on frontal view as compared with profile view.

How Accurate Is The Simulation?

An important questions when it comes to computer morphing is how accurate are the results. This boils down mainly to surgeon experience and consistency of results but also to a thorough understanding of the computer simulation process. I perform all of my own computer morphing myself as I am the one who is best able to assess what results are truly possible in any individual patient's situation.
 

Rhinoplasty Computer Morphing Example Result

This is an example of a patient who I performed computer simulation regarding improvement to her nose.




She has a significantly deviated nose toward the right as you can see on her preoperative photo on the far left. The middle photo shows her preoperative computer simulation and the far right photo shows her 13 month postoperative result. One can see a much straighter nose as compared with before surgery. Now let's look at her profile views:




Here on the patient's preoperative view on the left one can see a bump on the bridge and over-projected tip. The computer morphing simulation on the middle pane shows the proposed changes and the far right photo shows the 13 month postoperative result in which the patient has a straighter profile line, deprojected tip and reduced columellar show.
 

Morphing Expectations

It is important to understand that the computer morphing simulations are not a guarantee of results but are a tool in determining what overall changes are desired.


Interested in learning more? Check out this blog post where I discuss the use of digital morphing in revision rhinoplasty.

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