Computer imaging: true or false

Technologic advancements in the field of computer imaging are providing plastic surgeons with the ability to give patients a visual forecast of postsurgical outcome and serve as a platform for improved doctor-patient communication. This same technology allows the convenient and stable storage, cataloguing and rapid retrieval of massive numbers of photographs in minimal space. Along with these positive aspects, negative ones are becoming apparent. Poor prediction of outcomes by the physician, whether conscious or not, could result in patient dissatisfaction with what might be an optimal operative result. The hard copy evidence of the predicted outcome may then serve as evidence in our very unyielding legal system. Our inability to discern altered from unaltered photographs, negatives and slides presents our profession with ethical challenges in the presentation of data to our peers. Some partial solutions are discussed but the advent of this new technology calls us to a unique and absolute commitment to professional honesty.