Perception Drift
/pər-ˈsep-shən ˈdrift/
Have you ever fixed up a part of your home—patched a nail hole, painted over scuff marks, furiously scrubbed the shower tiles—only to notice another spot that needs some love? (Ugh, squeaky door.) Maybe you think fixing that one small thing will be the solution to all your problems. The same thing happens in regard to “fixing up” your appearance.
Perception drift is a phenomenon that happens when people lose sight of their appearance after undergoing a physical change like weight loss or a cosmetic procedure. Someone might dabble in just a *hint* of injectables to smooth out the forehead wrinkles that make them feel 10 years older—but once that “flaw” is gone, they realize their cheeks look droopy in comparison. So they get cheek filler…which just draws attention to their once fine, now suddenly thin lips. Lip filler, here we come! But wait—is that a jowl I see in my vacation pics?
And thus the cycle goes on. Rather than feeling satisfied with the original fix, the new face becomes the starting point, and other flaws appear. “The brain quickly adapts to the new baseline, forgetting what it once looked like,” explains Sabrina Fabi, MD, the dermatologist who coined this term. Need a visual? Check out “catwoman” Jocelyn Wildenstein, the ultimate cautionary tale.
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