Will Getting Facial Plastic Surgery Alter The Facial Recognition Of The iPhone X?

The new iPhone X has the impressive ability to recognize the owner of the phone using front cameras and special software. The phone’s facial recognition software is said to analyse facial shape and features before accepting or rejecting the user. When features visualized match the expected ones, the phone is unlocked.

If plastic surgery is designed to change how the face looks, then would a Toronto facelift cause a problem for phone facial recognition systems?

The Face ID system is programmed to recognize your unique face in many different poses and expressions. Apple has planned ahead with system adaptations built in to account for minor changes over time. Facial wrinkles, sagging skin and blemishes tend to appear and increase over months and years. The iPhone X Facial ID system will continually take new images of the user’s face to update its mathematical representation then discard the old ones.

According to Apple, if Face ID doesn’t recognize you, but the match passes a certain threshold, then you will enter a passcode and another Face ID capture will augment the stored facial recognition data. In this way, the software was designed to accommodate dramatic appearance changes such as hairstyle, colour, make up, aging, etc.

Toronto Facelift Surgery & iPhone X

The iPhone X’s facial capture system focuses on the central/midface for it’s data gathering. For a facial plastic surgery patient, this will possibly mean that procedures carried out in this region are more likely then, say, a chin implant, to cause issues.

Because just like humans, the phone’s recognition system focuses on the central face, it is possible that some of the following facial cosmetic surgery and non-surgical procedures will affect your use of this phone:

• Dermal facial fillers to the cheek and nasolabial fold areas.
• A SoftLift or liquid facelift
• Buccal fat removal
• Cheek implants
• Maxillofacial augmentation and genioplasty
• Blepharoplasty, (eyelid surgery)
• Brow Lift
• Fat transfer to the face
• Rhinoplasty
• Mid Face Lift

There are also a number of popular facial cosmetic surgery procedures aside from a facelift in Toronto, that are probably less likely to affect the iPhone X facial recognition software. This is because their changes will be made outside the area of central focus. These treatments may include:

• Botox or Dysport treatment for facial lines and wrinkles.
• Otoplasty, (ear surgery)
• Liposuction of the neck
• Kybella/Belkyra treatment for the double chin
• Neck Lift
• Lower facelift
• Platysmal Plication
• Chin Implant
• Hairline alterations or hair implants

We don’t know if facial changes made through cosmetic surgery will affect phone recognition yet. Luckily, most patients desire subtle, natural-looking improvements when they undergo a plastic surgery or cosmetic procedure. Even a Toronto facelift with Dr. Solomon can be extremely natural and is not designed to make a person look like anything other than themselves. Ideally, your facial treatment or surgery will have you looking rested, healthy, happy and the best possible version of you.