How The Digital Camera Has Changed The Way I Practice Plastic Surgery

摘要

As Plastic Surgeons, we are constantly bombarded with new technologies that promise such lofty benefits as lighter scars, faster healing, easier fat aspiration, all with the pretense of improving income. But, fads come and go, some even return in different forms, but precious few actually impact the way we practice our specialty over the long run. Yes, the automatic dermatome was a huge improvement, as was the introduction of fiberoptic-lighted retractors, and some endoscopic devices, and easy to use titanium plating systems. These advances have had palpable changes on our day-to-day surgical practices. There has been another quantum advance in our field, one that has slowly taken hold and is systematically having an increasing impact on what we do as Plastic Surgeons – the conversion to digital photography. This technology is fueling a silent “revolution” in our field, as well as in others, and has offered some very unexpected benefits that have materially changed how I do business.I must preface my remarks by stating that I wan not an early adopter of digital photography. I was not initially convinced that a digital camera would replace my trusty Ectachrome and Nikon 6006. At the time, I was quite attached to my 35 mm camera, which was my loyal veteran of hundreds of rolls of film since my residency. So, while I played around with one of the early generation Olympus digital cameras, I still shot back-ups with my 35 mm, the shots from which I ultimately used while routinely ignoring the digital shots. The Olympus was difficult to focus, especially on macro shots, used up batteries quickly, had poor resolution and meager memory space. This all changed with the next round of digital cameras.