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How to Take Photos for Your Virtual Consultation: Top Surgery, Breast Augmentation and Body Contouring

The Gender Confirmation Center (GCC) sees patients from all across the world. To increase accessibility, our team of expert surgeons offer complimentary virtual consultations. Prior to your consultation, you will need to upload photos onto our secure online portal. Our surgeons use the photos to assess what procedure types and techniques may be best for. For instance, clear photos of your whole torso (for top surgery) and whole body (for body contouring) is necessary.

In order to get the most out of your time with your surgeon it’s very important to try to take photos that fit the criteria below. Please note that the same photo taking criteria applies to your online follow-ups (after top surgery). The information below can also be viewed, shared and printed as PDF images via these top surgery, body contouring and facial surgery photo guide links.

Photography Tips

The minimum requirements to keep in mind when taking photos are as follows:

• Good lighting so that your surgeon can clearly see your contours and skin elasticity. Turning the flash on is recommended as long as it doesn’t wash out your photo.
• Solid background: like the back of a bathroom door or against a bare wall
• Portrait mode (vertical, not horizontal) so he can see as much of your body as possible. We suggest you ask a trusted support person to help you take the pictures or that you use the self-timer option on your camera.
• Not too close: photos should be taken at a distance to capture more of your body

Top Surgery Photos

Our surgical team will need photos from 5 different angles of your whole torso (not just chest tissue area). Although it may be challenging, try to ensure your photos look as similar as possible to the photos below:

Body Contouring Photos

You’ll need to provide our team with 6 different photo angles (pictured below). When taking the photos you should be standing with your feet a shoulder width apart. Below our model photo set are undergarment options to consider prior to taking your photos.

Options for What to Wear for  Your Body Contouring Consultation or Followup Photos

• Wear no underwear at all. Although completely nude may not be ideal, this is the best option as it gives your surgeon the opportunity to fully assess your body. Some patients will use an app on their phone to blur out their genital area.
• Wear a ‘bikini’ type underwear or an article of underwear that covers the least amount of your body is the second best option.
• Wear ‘boy shorts’ type underwear that aren’t very long and don’t overly compress your body form. If your underwear covers your thighs pull them up as far as possible, being careful not to position them in a way that distorts your body.

What Not to Wear

• Do not wear anything loose or long (such as boxers, shorts, pants etc.).
• Do not wear anything that compresses the hips, waist and thighs too much.