Augmented Reality has the power of equipping our environments with virtual elements to make life more efficient, more interesting, or simply more playful. We can also use AR to support our imagination in case of “what if … ” scenarios, e.g. placing virtual furniture into our new living room. This experience can become very personal, when planning to change things related to the own body, e.g. dental implants that may change the look of our smile.
Plastic surgery addresses among other things also the reconstruction of the aesthetics of our body. This may happen when for example a face got deformed or skin and further tissue had been burned as a consequence of an accident. Breast reconstruction of one or both breasts that were removed along with the treatment of breast cancer is another application. From one of my earlier projects, I learned that the wish of restoring the symmetry of the own body is very strong and it is mostly driven by extremely emotional reasons. Reconstructing the body can have a significant effect on the self-confidence of patients and their quality of life.
Of course, breast surgery addresses not only treatment of cancer patients. There is a significant number of pure aesthetic reasons that lead into such surgeries.
Screenshot taken from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h8r7PXMmOs8
The company Illusio Imaging based in California, USA introduces a tablet-PC based Augmented Reality application (Illusio), which can be used to consult the patient by presenting possible outcomes of a breast surgery.