We recently read a Reuters report that said that Beverly Hills plastic surgery patients want the eyes of Katie Holmes, the lips of Angelina Jolie and Jessica Biel’s body. While the article goes on to say that patients do not ask for plastic surgery “to look exactly like a specific star,” it suggests they do want “to replicate a distinct feature of various celebrity faces and bodies.”

At Profiles, we wonder what the point is to an article that suggests that patients request the nose of “Grey’s Anatomy” star Katherine Heigl, Keira Knightley’s cheek, and skin like Paris Hilton. In most cases this is neither possible nor, even more importantly, desirable.

What is important for patients to know is that plastic surgery is not like sculpting; human bone structure and tissue is not like metal or clay that can be molded to any shape we desire. And even if it were, even Brad Pitt’s nose on David Beckham’s face can appear off-putting and abnormal.

The point is that in order to give you a beautiful and natural look, your surgery should be tailored to your individual facial characteristics. At Profiles, we think it’s important that we are honest with you regarding what is possible and that we help guide you in what is desirable. While we do appreciate patients who bring pictures that help show the characteristic they are trying to achieve, we find that our state of the art computer imaging allows us to better communicate what we can achieve with surgery and this, in turn, allows patients to fine tune the details that they want us to be aware of in doing their surgery.

As a result, we find our patients are well educated about what they can expect and come out of surgery happy knowing that we achieved what we said we could.