Dermatologist decodes the reason why some people don't like the way they look in photos

In these times of social media, a lot of people feel that they look better in person as compared to their appearance in photos. This is simply because cameras process objects and people way differently than our brain does. This doesn't have a lot to do with beauty but it's closely related to the perception of it. Dr Samantha Ellis (@drsamanthaellis) recently took to Instagram to try and reframe the way we perceive photography and ourselves.

She shared an analogy that changed the way she talked to her patients. "I am gonna share something that a mentor once shared with me and it changed the way I view photography of myself. It changed the way I talk to my patients as a cosmetic dermatologist because I have lots of patients who are beautiful and they come in to have cosmetic work done just because they don't like the way they look in a photo," she says in her video.

She then goes on to share what her mentor told her. "Think of all the beautiful sunsets you have ever seen in your life," she says in the clip. "And then you go to take a picture of it and when you look at the photo you go, 'Ugh, this photo doesn’t do this sunset justice.'" She then goes on to explain how each one of us is the 'sunset.' "You are the sunset. You are beautiful. And just because the photo doesn’t do you justice, doesn’t detract from any of that," she points out. Needless to say, the video went viral, amassing over 22 million views and hundreds of thousands of likes. Most people loved the new perspective that Ellis shared.

"Love this I’ve also noticed that phones’ cameras have such high resolution now that they capture imperfections in greater detail than the naked eye," wrote @alojuce. "The number of lives these words just changed!" @drjolenebrighten added. "Aww, I love that. I’ll try to remember that next time I cringe at a photo of myself,"@goalstogetglowing joked.

Elisa Martínez, another psychotherapist from Aromas, California, who specializes in self-esteem said that it's pretty common for people to dislike the way they look in photos, especially after the introduction of social media. "Common complaints I hear are ‘I look so old!’ or ‘I’m too fat’ — perceptions that are largely rooted in ageist, fat-phobic societal beauty standards, among others," she said, reports HuffPost. Martínez also talked about how seeing photos of ourselves can be "unsettling" as we are not accustomed to seeing the reverse of our mirror image. "This can cause us to dislike our appearance in photos, since 'unfamiliarity' equals 'less appealing,'" she added.

She then said how it's important for us to experiment with those that make you feel more at ease with your appearance. "But know that even these won’t perfectly capture the sunset that is you," Martínez said. She added that if somebody is experiencing significant and pervasive distress then it may be indicative of a condition called body dysmorphic disorder. "If your preoccupation with your appearance in photos is accompanied by very low self-esteem, anxiety, depression or other serious mood changes, you may benefit from getting support from a licensed mental health professional who can accurately diagnose and provide specialized treatment of these issues,” Martínez said.

You can follow Dr Samantha Ellis (@drsamanthaellis) for more dermatology content on Instagram.