How it works
What a MirrorMD Report Measures, and What It Won't Tell You
11 min read2 sources citedPubMed
If you are about to upload a photo, or about to pay $49 for the Full Report, you should know exactly what you are getting. Not the marketing version: the actual list of what the report looks at, the reference standards it uses, the rules it is required to follow, and the things it deliberately does not do.
This page is that list. It is written from the engine's own specification, and every concern guide on this site links back to it so you can check what "the report looks at here" actually means.
Built by a physician with over 20 years of experience in facial cosmetic surgery.
Read this first
The short answer
The report reads one or two photographs, a front view and, if you give it one, a side profile, plus three things you tell it: your age range, how your skin responds to sun, and any treatments you have been quoted or are considering, with the price. From that it assesses eight facial features, organizes findings into nine anatomic zones, and produces a plan that draws only from an approved menu of 131 treatments, each with a price range, a downtime estimate and a note on what to expect.
The two outputs people screenshot are a ranked Top 3 Moves, chosen by visible impact against cost and weighted for safety, and a Skip List of two to four popular treatments you do not need right now, each with the reason and the preferred alternative. If you entered a quote, the report gives a verdict on each treatment in it, by name: agree, partially agree, or disagree, with the finding that justifies it.
The free scan runs the identical engine. It shows you the first two findings. The Full Report shows you all of it.
What it assesses, feature by feature
| Feature | What the report looks at | Reference it reads against | What that changes in your plan |
|---|---|---|---|
| Forehead and brows | Forehead height and shape, brow position (high-set or low-set), brow shape and thickness, brow bone prominence, how the brows frame the eyes, dynamic versus etched lines | Brow position relative to the orbital rim; forehead classified as high, average or low, because that classification decides which brow-lift technique is even allowed to appear | A low brow routes toward a brow lift rather than forehead toxin; a high forehead rules out an endoscopic lift (it lengthens the forehead) in favor of a hairline-lowering approach. Fine lines route to device treatment, not only retinol. See forehead and frown lines |
| Eyes | Eye shape (almond, round, hooded, downturned, upturned, monolid), spacing, size relative to the face, canthal tilt, upper lid exposure, under-eye condition | Whether upper-lid heaviness is skin, brow descent or a low lid margin; whether under-eye darkness is shadow from hollowing, a fat pad, pigment or thin skin | Hooding from a fallen brow is not sent to eyelid surgery; a visible fat pad under the eye is not sent to filler. See hooded eyes and under-eye hollows |
| Nose | Bridge width, dorsal profile (straight, convex, concave), tip shape and projection, nostril shape and symmetry, deviation, proportion to face width | Tip rotation against the nasolabial angle (about 90 to 95 degrees for men, 95 to 110 for women); specific deformity type: open-book bones, simple hump, deviation, bulbous tip, under-rotated tip | The report names the deformity type and whether the fix is surgical-only. It is forbidden from offering liquid rhinoplasty to "reduce" a hump, because filler adds volume and cannot |
| Cheeks and midface | Cheekbone prominence and position, midface volume and fullness, hollowing, flatness or underprojection, how the cheekbones define face shape | Midface depth from the profile view: cheekbone projection, infraorbital rim support, fullness beside the nose | Midface flatness or underprojection is flagged on its own, and it is often the real driver behind a fold-filler or tear-trough quote; when it is, the plan starts with midface support. See nasolabial folds |
| Lips | Lip shape, upper-to-lower ratio, symmetry, vermilion border definition, philtrum definition, volume loss or thinning | Lip projection against the Ricketts E-line (roughly upper lip 4 mm behind, lower lip 2 mm behind) and the lip-to-chin relationship | A lip that is long rather than small is not sent to filler; lips in front of a set-back chin trigger a chin conversation before a lip one. See thin lips |
| Jawline | Definition and angle, mandibular width, jaw shape (square, rounded, V, narrow), masseter prominence, asymmetry | Whether softness is bone, fat, muscle bulk or descent | Lack of definition can route to jawline filler or to masseter slimming, depending on whether the cause is bone, muscle bulk or descent; descent is read together with the neck and midface rather than treated as a filler-only problem |
| Chin | Projection (recessed, normal, projecting), shape, proportion to the face, vertical height | Ricketts E-line and Steiner line from the profile; from the front, chin position relative to the lower lip | Under 3 mm behind the E-line, chin filler is an appropriate first step; more than 5 mm, or a vertically short chin, routes to an implant or genioplasty as the definitive fix. See double chin and jawline |
| Hair and hairline | Hair quality and density, hairline shape and position, thinning or recession, how the style frames the face | Hairline position in relation to forehead height | Feeds the forehead classification above and the hair and scalp zone of the roadmap |
Skin is assessed across the whole face rather than as a feature: texture, pigment, fine lines, laxity and your reported sun response, which sets the at-home and device recommendations and flags where darker skin tones change what is safe.
What the profile photo adds
The side view is optional, and most of the lower-face judgments get sharper with it. From the profile the report assesses chin projection against the Ricketts E-line and Steiner line, the standard reference lines for lower-face balance in profile analysis (PMC), the nasal dorsum, tip projection and rotation, midface depth, lip projection, and the neck-chin angle, with the cervicomental angle read against the 105-to-120-degree range considered ideal in the surgical literature (PMC). It also rates overall profile balance: how the forehead slope, nasal projection, lip position, chin prominence and neck angle relate to each other.
That matters because the most common quoting mistakes on this site's concern pages are profile mistakes: lip filler for a retruded chin, fat-dissolving injections for a neck whose problem is a short chin, fold filler for a face whose cheeks have slid forward. The front view alone can still flag a weak chin, a crooked bridge or a dorsal bump from shadow patterns, and the report is instructed to do so; the profile just lets it commit.
These are assessments from photographs against reference lines, not caliper measurements. The report will say a chin "falls behind the E-line"; it will not pretend to know by how many millimeters.
What the report produces
- An opening that is specific to you. Every sentence is required to contain something about your face; anything that could apply unchanged to any patient of your age and gender is rewritten.
- Strengths first. Three to five features that are naturally strong, each with the reason, before any area of opportunity is named.
- Two to five areas of opportunity. Each tied to a zone, and each must be addressed somewhere later: by a Top 3 move, by a universal recommendation, or by a skip-list entry that names the preferred alternative. Nothing is raised and then dropped.
- Top 3 Moves. Ranked by visible impact per dollar, weighted for safety, with cost range, downtime and category from at-home to surgical. Foundational items like sunscreen and retinoids are allowed to be the Top 3 only when the face genuinely has no bigger opportunity. "No procedure right now" is an allowed answer, and the report is required to say so plainly when that is its honest view.
- The Skip List. Two to four popular treatments you do not need now, each with a one-sentence reason drawn from your analysis. "Not necessary" is not an acceptable reason; the report must say why.
- A zone-by-zone roadmap. For each of the nine zones with findings, the full spectrum of relevant options from at-home products through professional, minimally invasive and surgical, ordered least to most invasive, each with price range, downtime, what to expect, and what to look for in a provider. Zones that match the concerns you typed are prioritized.
- A verdict on your quote. If you entered what a provider recommended, the report goes treatment by treatment: agree, partially agree or disagree, naming the finding that supports it. It is forbidden from writing a generic "your provider's plan is well-aligned" paragraph.
- The money, with its sources. Every price in the cost map and the five-year arithmetic comes from a fixed evidence table, never from the AI. A number appears only if the cited page prints it; RealSelf figures are labeled as patient-reported totals and ASPS figures as surgeon fees that exclude anesthesia and facility, because that is what those sources publish. Where a treatment needs repeating, the report shows its five-year math rather than quoting a single-visit price.
- Universal recommendations, consult questions, and a makeup or grooming guide. The six to ten things that help almost everyone, ordered by cost and invasiveness; the questions to ask before you book; and placement guidance for women or grooming guidance for men based on your bone structure.
- A closing on your strengths. The whole plan is framed as enhancement of a face that already works, not correction of one that does not.
You get all of it as a PDF, delivered on screen and by email, that you can take into a consultation.
Remember this
The rules it has to follow
The report is not free to say whatever a language model might say. It operates under a set of fixed rules, and the ones that most affect what you read are these.
- Menu only. It can recommend only treatments from the approved 131-item menu, by exact name, with that menu's price range and any warning attached verbatim. It cannot invent a procedure or a product.
- Surgical decision rules. Before any surgery appears, the finding has to justify it. An endoscopic brow lift can never be recommended for a high forehead. Liquid rhinoplasty cannot be offered to reduce a hump. Chin filler is for mild retrusion; implants are for moderate to severe. A mini-facelift cannot be recommended when the midface has clearly descended, because it does not address the deep tissue and the result disappoints. When in doubt, the rule is the less invasive option.
- Technique-neutral. It assesses whether a treatment fits a finding, never how a provider should perform it. No needle versus cannula instructions, no unit maps, no injection depths. That is your provider's job, and the report says so.
- Second opinions are not rubber stamps. If a provider recommended a treatment that is off the report's menu, the verdict can be partially agree or disagree, never agree, and the preferred alternative is named.
- Restraint is the brand. The Top 3 may not be inflated to justify the price. The Skip List may not be padded. Two specific skips beat four generic ones.
- Off-menu disclosures. A few popular treatments are excluded as a matter of clinical preference, not as a regulatory or safety statement. Deoxycholic acid for submental fat and under-eye filler are the two you are most likely to notice. Each concern guide explains why.
Free scan versus Full Report
| Free scan | Full Report ($49) | |
|---|---|---|
| Engine | The identical full analysis, run once | The same run, shown in full |
| Photos | Front view, optional profile | Same photos, same run |
| What you see | Your #1 move worth considering and one treatment to skip, with the reason | Every section above: features, zones, Top 3, full Skip List, roadmap, quote verdicts, cost map, five-year math, consult questions, strengths |
| Your quote | Checked, and you are told it has a verdict | The verdict on each quoted treatment, by name, with the finding |
| Format | On screen, plus one result email | PDF you keep, on screen and by email |
| Guarantee | Not applicable | 7-day, no-questions-asked refund, plus the explanation promise with no time limit (guarantee) |
| Photo handling | Deleted from our servers within seconds of the analysis finishing; result kept up to 7 days; one-tap delete everything | Same |
The free result and the paid report cannot disagree, because they are the same document. That was a deliberate fix after an early version computed them separately and the free result said to skip a treatment the paid report then recommended. Now the free skip is checked against the full roadmap before it is shown.
What it will not tell you
- A score. There is no attractiveness rating, no percentile, no comparison to other faces. The site is not built to rank you, and we think ranking is a bad basis for spending money.
- A diagnosis. It cannot examine you. The pinch tests and close-your-eyes tests on the concern pages exist because a photograph cannot do them; the report tells you which ones to do and what to ask.
- Function. Breathing, vision, swallowing, eyelid strength, whether your insurance might cover a lid or brow procedure: those need a clinician in the room, and the report says so where they come up.
- Where to go. It does not refer you to providers, does not take commissions, and does not sell treatments. The $49 is the entire business. It will tell you what to look for in a provider and what to ask; it will not name one.
- How to inject. See the technique-neutral rule above.
- Certainty it does not have. Photo quality, lighting, expression and a two-dimensional view all limit it. It is instructed to say when it cannot be confident, and the guarantee is written around that promise.
How to get the most out of it
- Photos. Even light from the front, no makeup, hair off the forehead and ears, neutral expression, camera at eye level. Add a true side profile if you can; it sharpens everything in the lower face.
- Your quote. Type in exactly what you were offered, the price, and your question about it, without the provider's name. The verdict section is only as specific as what you give it.
- Your concerns. Name them in your own words. Zones that match what you typed are prioritized in the roadmap.
- Read the Skip List first. It is the section most likely to save you money, and the one that tells you fastest whether the report has understood your face.
Then take it to the consult. Our second-opinion guide covers how to compare what the report says with what the provider in front of you says, and sample reports show the full document on three sample cases before you spend anything.
Frequently asked questions
Is the MirrorMD report a medical diagnosis?
No. It is an educational second opinion built from your photos, written to prepare you for a consultation with a licensed provider. It assesses what it can see against standard clinical reference lines and tells you what is worth considering, what to skip, and what to ask. It cannot examine you, cannot assess function such as breathing or vision, and does not replace a clinician who can.
Does MirrorMD rate how attractive I am?
No, and it is built not to. There is no score, no ranking, no comparison to other faces. The report opens with your strengths, names two to five areas of opportunity, and then explains what would and would not change them. If you want a number, our AI face score guide explains why we think those numbers are a poor basis for spending money.
What is the difference between the free scan and the $49 Full Report?
The same engine runs once for both. The free scan shows you two findings derived from the full analysis — your number-one move worth considering and one popular treatment you can skip — so the two can never disagree. The Full Report is the complete document — every feature, every zone, the ranked Top 3, the full skip list, the treatment roadmap with sourced prices, the five-year cost arithmetic, a verdict on any quote you entered, and the consult questions — delivered as a PDF you keep.
Why does the report not recommend some popular treatments?
The report draws only from an approved menu of 131 treatments, and a handful of common ones are left off as a matter of clinical preference, not because they are unsafe or improperly used elsewhere. Deoxycholic acid injections for a double chin and under-eye filler are two examples; where they come up, the report names its preferred alternative and says why. Our double chin and under-eye hollows guides explain the reasoning in full.
How accurate is it, and what if it gets something wrong?
It reads photographs, so it is only as good as your photos and the limits of a two-dimensional view. It is instructed to say plainly when it cannot confidently suggest a treatment, and "no procedure" is an allowed answer. If your report does not explain its reasoning, identify the questions to ask, or say clearly when it is unsure, that is covered by the explanation promise in the guarantee, alongside a 7-day, no-questions-asked refund.
This article is general education, not medical advice. It does not replace an in-person consultation with a licensed clinician.