Google
 

Friday, October 12, 2007

Plastic surgery to look like a celebrity

Surgery Summary
Mike and Matt believe the only thing holding them back from Hollywood is their face. They think if they look like Brad, they will be able to make it big and women will finally want them. Mike and Matt both get rhinoplasty, chin implants, and porcelain veneers and Mike also gets cheek implants.

Mike and Matt Schlepp

Mike and Matt
Age: 20
Home State: Arizona

Want to look like Brad Pitt and become famous actors.

Post-Op Interview:

MTV: Are you pleased with the results of your surgery?
MIKE: I am more than pleased with my face. I never knew that it could have turned out as amazing as it has. I feel good looking now and will forever feel that

MATT: I never knew that my teeth and face together could have turned out this amazing! I am overwhelmed with the results This is the face I've wanted to see look back at me in the mirror I'm speechless.

MTV: Was it worth it? Why or why not?
MIKE: The pain of the implants, the swelling, the staring...it was worth it and then some. There were some doubts at first, but with time came healing and this face magically appeared. And it was all worth it.

MATT: At first there was doubt I knew this was what I wanted to do, and I knew there would be swelling, but I'm very impatient, and I wanted to see my new look right away. I did choose perfect surgeons for both oral and plastic surgery; I am a prime example of their artistic beauty. It was more than worth it I would do it ten times over, as long as I had the same surgeons

MTV: What was the biggest post-surgery surprise?
MIKE: The biggest post-surgery surprise was when those who used to say I was OK looking said that I was beautiful and that they could not stop staring at me. Those who showed no interest in me before showed interest in me after. Isn't that funny how that sometimes happens!

MATT: Before surgery I was scared that I would wake up in a lot of pain That wasn't the case at all. I woke up in no pain, and have never experienced any pain with all my procedures That was a huge surprise to me. Another surprise was the minimal swelling I had Most people are extremely black and blue. An excellent surgeon who knows what they are doing will barely have any bruising and swelling, and that was what I got, "The best"

MTV: Since the surgery, have you been mistaken for Brad Pitt?
MIKE: Since the surgery I have not been mistaken for Brad Pitt. Except for in a picture that was taken, someone said that I kind of resembled him. It was the hair! I used the face template of Brad Pitt to enhance his, so deep down inside, I feel and look like him, but in that different way.

MATT: I haven't been mistaken for Brad Pitt, but it wasn't his face I wanted, it was his strong bone structure. But, I have had friends joke about how that, before surgery, I was Brad Pitt from Fight Club, as you'll see why! And after surgery, I'm Brad Pitt in Ocean's Eleven!

MTV: What would you say to teens reading this who are thinking about getting elective plastic surgery?
MIKE: Those who are down on themselves for a fault in their looks, if you know that surgery will make you happy, go for it. It will change your personality, the way you act and carry yourself forever. I never knew that I could be as happy as I am right now. I feel on top of the world by the few tweaks that I went through. Go through with the surgery now because you don't want to go through life always feeling down with the way that you look, or just accepting the way that you look, that there is nothing that you can do to look better. I am…happy for once.

MATT: Why are you waiting? If any part of you drains all your self esteem, then why live like that? The longer you go on living like that, the more it's going to affect you, and bring you down There is something you can do about it. It will change your outlook on life, and make you a happier person There's nothing to be scared about, just push yourself out the door and stop making excuses. If you don't believe me, then prove me wrong!

MTV: What's the best thing about plastic surgery? What's the worst?
MIKE: The best thing about plastic surgery was when in a sense, the curtains were pulled aside. What that means is when the swelling was finally down. I saw the final result. The final result was the best part of the whole surgery. The worst thing was when the swelling was up and I was unable to eat the "good" food for two months.

MATT: Plastic surgery gave me my life back It's a different kind of cure. When those blinds were pulled up from my eyes, I saw everything in a new light, and now I walk with my head held high The worst thing was waiting for the minimal swelling to go down I just wanted my face to be healed right away, but it takes time, and it's frustrating when you're not a patient person

MTV: Has the surgery helped you to get girls?
MIKE: The surgery has helped me get girls. Every time my twin brother and I walk down the mall or at our shopping center, girls seem to do the double look and begin to chat with their friends. I notice the eyes on us. Girls tell us all the time that we look "really" good, that we are beautiful and that our smiles are paralyzing.

MATT: Now with all the healing pretty much down, and our complete makeover, it has definitely helped me get more girls I'll walk and gezt that double take from girls, and hear the whispering that follows And what I've been waiting to hear was the comment that I am beautiful I've had such a dramatic change, that girl friends I hadn't seen in a while couldn't stop staring, and said that they wanted to cry! If that doesn't make you feel good, then what would?

MTV: Was it painful?
MIKE: I won't lie, the surgery was painful for me at least. My nose and my chin did not hurt at all. My jaw and cheek implants however hurt the worst.

MATT: My surgeries; nose job, chin, and my porcelain veneers, honestly, never hurt once. The only painful thing was the thought on why I didn't do this sooner

MTV: Do you want to get anything else done?
MIKE: When I am around my father's age, I intend to get a brow lift. My family has a history of drooping eyes. I might also get a facelift since I am on that topic already.

MATT: While I'm young, I don't plan on getting any more plastic surgery. I may get my skin resurfaced to take away any acne scars Other than that, I don't plan on getting more surgery 'til I'm much older Maybe a brow lift to refresh my face

MTV: Why did you pick the celebrity that you picked?
MIKE: I looked at many faces in the media, faces that I might want to imitate. I saw Brad Pitt and his success with the way that he looked. He was able to fit and suit all genres of films with his look. He had the perfect jaw, chin, cheeks, that was the masculine appearance that I was looking for. I knew that if I imitated Brad Pitt's appearance that I knew I would be happy with mine. And the thing is…I am happy with the results. Thanks Brad!!!!

MATT: I was unhappy with my bone structure, and wanted a look that could help advance me in films I wanted a strong bone structure, and a face that could fit any type of movie Well, I turned to actors who had a lot of success in movies, and still had a good look. Then that's when I came across Brad Pitt I didn't want to look like him, but I wanted that strong bone structure I have my own look, but influenced by Brad Pitt.

Source:
http://www.mtv.com/onair/i_want_a_famous_face/meet_the_patients/index.jhtml?Patients=Mike%20and%20Matt

Robot gives facial massages

TOKYO, Japan (AP) -- With steely arms sprouting cables and wires, the WAO-1 robot looks nothing like a relaxation device.

art.robot.facial.ap.jpg

The WAO-1 robot give therapeutic facial massages.

But researchers at Tokyo's Waseda University hope the contraption will soon be deployed to hospitals and spas across Japan to give therapeutic facial massages.

The WAO-1 robot, which stands for Waseda Asahi Oral Rehabilitation Robot 1, is being developed initially for patients with jaw-related medical problems who require facial massages as part of their treatment, according to project leader Atsuo Takanishi.

The robot's arms are fitted with ceramic spheres the size of golf balls, and the spheres roll over the skin. The arms' movements are controlled by a complex set of algorithms designed to emulate massages, while six sensors at the base of the arms measure and adjust the pressure applied by the spheres, Takanishi said.

The technology has to be more refined than those in electric massage chairs because the facial bone structure is much more fragile than back or spine bones, he said.

Another research team member, Ken Nishimura, said the robot could be adjusted to give beauty and relaxation massages.

"This technology can be applied very widely," Nishimura said. "I'm looking forward to a time when this robot will give beauty facials at spas."

The team is set to start clinical trials using the robot in November, according to Takanishi. The robot, developed with Japan's Asahi University, must be approved by a government safety panel before it becomes available to hospitals or to the public.

Japan is a leader in consumer robots. A robot that gives shampoos is already widely deployed at hair salons across Japan.

Source:
http://www.cnn.com/2007/TECH/ptech/10/10/robot.face.massage.ap/index.html

Natural Characteristics That Influence Environment: How Physical Appearance Affects Personality

This paper proposes that physical appearance is a major factor in the development of personality, because people form opinions by what they see in a person physically, and respond to that person accordingly. In turn, people tend to fulfill the expectations they believe others have for them. Several examples are given of experiments and literature that support this assertion, and a method is suggested for more directly observing this phenomenon experimentally.

The debate as to whether a people's personality was more influenced by their genetics or their environment has raged for years. Current estimates in the nature-nurture battle place the weight of each at right around 50% (McMartin, 1995). One possible flaw in this estimate, however, lies in the fact that the question of how much people's nature influences their environment has been largely left unanswered. For this question to be properly answered, however, it must be determined what natural factors could possibly have a strong influence on environment. Once this cause and effect relationship is established, it should be much more convenient to accurately examine what causes people's personality to develop as it does.
.
.
.
Certainly, how people are brought up and the environment in which they are constantly immersed affects their personality immensely. However, one of the greatest determining factors of how people's environment acts is those people themselves. People influence their environment by characteristics they naturally possess, beginning at a very young age. Perhaps the most influential and easily discernable factor that influences environment is physical appearance. This argument demonstrates that natural characteristics are ultimately the greatest determinant of personality, whether or not inherently linked to personality. Under this premise, those characteristics that most heavily influence environment would also indirectly determine personality. If supported sufficiently with experimental data, it seems this would tip the scales in the nature-nurture debate heavily towards the side of nature.

Source:
http://www.personalityresearch.org/papers/popkins2.html
Nathan C. Popkins
Northwestern University

Facial mask to show attractiveness of face




Characteristics of the mask:

1] prominent supra-orbital (brow) ridges (frontal bossing) resulting
in deep set appearing eyes

2] flatter and narrower eyebrows

3] slightly narrower eyes

4] eyes less "wide open" (eye lids slightly closed)

5] slightly longer and/or wider nose

6] slightly thinner lips (especially upper lip)

7] square/angled and or larger jaws

Like the idealized female face, the idealized male face advertises health and as such essentially conforms to and is symmetric like the female Golden Mask.

However, as a result of the male's primitive evolved function to provide hunted food and other resources as well as to protect the family and tribe, males have evolved to be perceived as attractive to the degree that they physically advertise those abilities.

Likewise, the human male face has evolved to appear different than the female face so as not to be sexually attractive to other males, since this might interfere with and compete with his attempts to mate with females.

The male variant of the archetypal face is a slightly modified version of the female face which appears more intimidating, protective, and sexually dissimilar (i.e. non-female) than the female archetypal face.

Full face plastic surgery - Change shape of the whole face

Cosmetic surgery is a very popular avenue for personal enhancement, as demonstrated by the 11.9 million cosmetic procedures performed in the U.S. alone in 2004. As for any operation, cosmetic procedures involve risk, and should therefore not be undertaken lightly. Within the US, critics of plastic surgery note that it is legal for any doctor, regardless of speciality, to perform "cosmetic surgery", but not "plastic surgery". It is thus important to distinguish the terms "plastic surgery" and "cosmetic surgery": Plastic Surgery is recognized by the American Board of Medical Specialties (the only official entity overseeing physician certification in the United States) as the subspecialty dedicated to the surgical repair of defects of form or function -- this includes cosmetic (or aesthetic) surgery, as well as reconstructive surgery. The term "cosmetic surgery" however, simply refers to surgery that is designed to improve cosmetics, or appearance.

How much can you enhance your appearance using cosmetic surgery?

This patient desired several changes in his facial contour. In two operations, the surgeon performed infraorbital rim (lower eye socket), paranasal (bones lateral to the nose), malar (cheekbone), and mandibular body (lower jaw) augmentation. In addition, the patient had a midface lift, lateral canthopexy (to change the shape of his eyes), and rhinoplasty.

Implants at the site of the patient's infraorbital (eye socket) rim, malar (cheekbone), paranasal (bones bracketing the nose), and mandibular body (lower jaw) were fixed to his skeleton with titanium screws. His rhinoplasty is represented by dotted lines. The surgeon directed the patient's eyes upward by performing a lateral canthopexy. This procedure involved suturing the tendons at the lateral corner of the patient's eye to his orbital rim.

Various implants in the face:


. .

Before and after pictures of the surgeries:

Patient Example. . Patient Example.
Pre-op. . Post-op.
.
Patient Example. . Patient Example.
Pre-op. . Post-op.
.
Patient Example. . Patient Example.
Pre-op. . Post-op.
.

Langer's lines and face creams - Use the tension lines in the face to your advantage

Langer's lines define the direction within the human skin along which the skin is least flexible. This mechanical property is determined by the alignment of collagen fibers and bundles of collagen fibers within the dermis.

Unfortunately, the accurate direction of Langer's lines often is not known. In some areas of the body, large differences exist in the direction between different persons. Even on the same person, changes in the exact direction may occur during the course of life.

The knowledge of the direction of Langer's lines within a particular area of the skin is of great importance for surgical operations. Generally and most importantly, a surgical cut should allow for an optimal opening of the area to be operated on and should also offer the possibility to extend the area during the surgery. At the same time, it must be made sure that the skin can heal properly after the surgery and that a beneficial cosmetic appearance is obtained after healing. These conditions are usually best fulfilled, if a surgical cut is carried out in the direction of Langer's lines. The generation of scares, in particular, is minimized under these conditions. This is of paramount importance in plastic surgery, where surgical cuts and potential scars run through visible body parts, such as the face.

When using anti-aging face creams it is recommended that the motion of the hand applying the creams follow these lines. In general the following image show these lines.

http://www.merck.com/media/mmpe/figures/MMPE_21PHY_308_01_tif.gif

Perspective - Why you look different in the mirror and on photographs

Perspective distortion caused by lens focal length is an effect that is more pronounced the more the focal length differs from a normal lens. Distortion is especially noticeable using wide-angle lenses near a subject that extends away from the camera.

Wide lenses (e.g. 24 or 18 mm focal length for a 35 mm camera) magnify apparent distance, causing objects close to the camera to appear considerably larger than objects farther away.

In comparison, longer lenses (85 mm and greater for a 35 mm camera) appear to shorten distance between objects, and compress the depth.

For this reason, lens choice in film and photography can influence perception of a scene. The general assumption that "undoctored" photos can not distort a scene is thus incorrect. This is particularly noticeable in en face portraits. Taken with wide-angle lenses, they generally give an unpleasant impression; making the nose appear far too large, and distorting the facial expression. For good results, portraits should generally be taken using a moderate telephoto lens. Again, for a 35 mm camera, a lens of focal length 85 or 105 mm is considered to be a portrait objective.

Notice how the perspective is altered when taking images incorrectly. This means that the image that one sees in the mirror and on a photograph may be different. Using proper a proper camera and technique.

Pictures showing this effect:



Characteristics of beautiful faces

What is it that makes a face look beautiful? What are the differences between very attractive and less appealing faces? For every historical period and every human culture, people have always had their own ideal of beauty. But this ideal has never been constant and is still subject to changes. In our research project we adopted an empirical approach and created prototypes for unattractive and attractive faces for each sex by using the morphing technique. For example, the prototype for an unattractive face ("unsexy face") was created by blending together four faces that had previously been rated as very unattractive. The "sexy face" was created by blending together four of the most attractive faces, respectively.
In order to find out the characteristic differences between attractive and unattractive faces, we presented pairs of one "sexy" and one "unsexy" image for both sexes to test subjects. The task was to report which facial features were perceived to be different between the two faces. For the results see the list below.

Female faces:

Prototypic female face of high attractiveness
("sexy face")
Prototypic female face of low attractiveness
("unsexy face")

Characteristic features of the female "sexy face" in comparison to the "unsexy face":

  • Suntanned skin
  • Narrower facial shape
  • Less fat
  • Fuller lips
  • Slightly bigger distance of eyes
  • Darker, narrower eye brows
  • More, longer and darker lashes
  • Higher cheek bones
  • Narrower nose
  • No eye rings
  • Thinner lids


Male faces:

The prototypic male face of high attractiveness
("sexy face")
The prototypic male face of low attractiveness
("unsexy face")

Characteristics of the male "Sexy face" in the comparison to the "unsexy face":

  • Browner skin
  • Narrower facial shape
  • Less fat
  • Fuller and more symmetrical lips
  • Darker eye brows
  • More and darker lashes
  • Upper half of the face broader in relation to the lower
  • Higher cheek bones
  • Prominent lower jaw
  • More prominent chin
  • No receding brows
  • Thinner lids
  • No wrinkles between nose and corner of the mouth
http://www.uni-regensburg.de/Fakultaeten/phil_Fak_II/Psychologie/Psy_II/beautycheck/english/prototypen/prototypen.htm

Digital Image Beautification

Abstract:

This sketch presents a novel method for digital face beautification: given a frontal photograph of a face (a portrait), our method automatically increases the predicted attractiveness rating of the face. The main challenge is to achieve this goal while introducing only minute, subtle modifications to the original image, such that the resulting “beautified” face maintains a strong, unmistakable similarity to the original, as demonstrated by the pair of faces shown in Figure 1. The effectiveness of the proposed method was experimentally

validated by a group of test subjects who consistently rated the modified faces as more attractive than the original ones. Professional photographers have been retouching and deblemishing their subjects ever since the invention of photography. It may be safely assumed that any model that we encounter on a magazine cover today has been digitally manipulated by a skilled, talented retouching artist. Since the human face is arguably the most frequently photographed object on earth, a tool such as ours would be

a useful and welcome addition to the ever-growing arsenal of image enhancement and retouching tools available in today’s digital image editing packages. The potential of such a tool for motion picture special effects and advertising is also quite obvious.



http://www.cs.tau.ac.il/~tommer/beautification/