The quiet ways AI face apps and cosmetic ‘tweakments’ are rewiring our brains
Psychologists have a name: anxiety mirror – the discomfort that occurs when the face you see no longer corresponds to the one you have used to seeing online. Reflection becomes strange. You look, but something feels turned off.
When self-improvement becomes self-replacement
Cosmetic culture has caught up with the algorithm. The language has softened, more “transformation”, simply “adjust” and “maintenance”.
“Now, patients with images generated by AI of their ideal face,” explains Dr. Lahari Surapaneni, plastic and reconstructive surgeon, and CEO of Bangalore HospitalS. “No photographs of celebrities. Theirs, just subtly distorted by technology.”
In some respects, it finds it useful, saying that it facilitates communication, which gives customers a level of control over the result. But she adds that AI does not understand anatomy. “IA images focus on the tiny digital improvements – the redefinition of pixels, the deformation of geometry, the vigor of the outline. It does not take into account in scientific facial proportions, the natural texture of the skin or surgical directives. ”
In her clinic, she uses the images generated by AI as a starting point. From there, they break down what is surgical, what is not surgical and gives customers a clearer idea of what is only possible in images.
As for the idea of ”natural” beauty, it is more organized than ever. “Natural is in no way easier in terms of technique or surgical cost,” said Dr. Surapaneni. “It requires an extremely tailor -made approach and more frequent small procedures, rather than a radical transformation.”
The emotional cost of the match
Where does that leave the person in the mirror? Somewhere between recognition and rejection.
“Many people have not only wanted to be more beautiful, but to look like their filtered self,” says Rohra. “This prosecution is not only aesthetics, it is emotional. When someone identifies more in their edited image, cosmetic changes become an attempt to shrink this dissonance. But unless the emotional gap is approached, no physical alteration really satisfies.”
Dr. Surapaneni echoes that when she says that her role is to balance desire with reality. “Plastic, reconstructive and aesthetic surgery is to realize” dreams “. But it has also just managed expectations and explain what is possible depending on anatomy and science. ”
You, but not quite
The cosmetic work is more subtle, the language is softer, and the face you are trying to correspond is yours, just modified by the AI, filtered by default, stored as an image recorded in your mind.
