We are working with a long-time client on redesigning their site. The practice manager asked, “About how many pictures ideally do we need on the website? We obviously don’t have enough, but how high are we aiming?”
Presenting before and after photos for plastic surgery and med spa websites isn’t just about quantity; it’s also about quality. Simply stated, you want to feature many well-photographed, properly formatted cases on your site with clear, descriptive text that helps patients understand what they’re seeing.
For plastic surgery and medical spa practices, your before-and-after gallery is one of the most powerful tools you have to communicate expertise, consistency, and trust.
Quantity: Why More Cases Matter
There are four good reasons it’s important to present many cases per procedure:
- SEO Value: Each new set of photos, when accompanied by a keyword-rich text description, can be published as a new page that can help you earn better search engine rankings.
- Ethical Transparency: Your state medical licensing board and medical societies do not want doctors, intentionally or accidentally, to mislead patients about what is a realistic surgical outcome. Providing a larger sample is more defensibly “representative” than just a few of the doctor’s favorite cases.
- Broader Appeal: The quality of surgical outcomes is subjective. So the more photos you show, the more likely a potential patient will see an inspiring outcome.
- Demonstrated Experience: More photos are perceived to mean more experience. A surgeon who posts every consented case to their website is likely to be perceived as having more experience than a surgeon who has done as many of the same procedures but chooses not to post their work online.
Beyond these benefits, regularly adding new photo sets tells both patients and search engines that your practice is active and relevant. Fresh before-and-after cases also strengthen local SEO for aesthetic practices by signaling ongoing expertise in key procedures.
Proof of Expertise: Why Priority Plastic Surgery & Med Spa Galleries Deserve More Photos
When patients research cosmetic procedures such as rhinoplasty, tummy tuck, or laser skin resurfacing, they’re looking for evidence of consistency and skill—not one exceptional result.
For your top or “priority” procedures, aim to feature multiple before-and-after cases that reflect a range of patient types, goals, and outcomes.
This variety demonstrates:
- Depth of experience: Showing dozens of cases communicates that you’ve performed the procedure successfully for many patients.
- Breadth of skill: Displaying different body types, ages, or aesthetic goals helps prospective patients find examples that resemble their own.
- Proof of expertise: Search engines interpret these pages as topic clusters around a specific service, reinforcing your authority for those keywords.
Think of your photo volume as visual proof of expertise. The more comprehensive your gallery of key procedures, the stronger your credibility, both with patients and in search engine rankings.
Quality: What Really Counts
Quality is also an issue, but not in the way you might think. Don’t focus solely on isolating your favorite outcomes. Focus instead on good photography and professional presentation.
That means consistent framing and lighting, neutral backgrounds, and asking patients to remove makeup for their “after” photos. And as photos become dated (hairstyles, makeup, or jewelry that are clearly out of style), retire those images in favor of fresh cases that reflect your current technique and aesthetic.
If you need a refresher on how to capture high-quality, compliant before-and-after photos, see our post on best practices for patient photography for tips on lighting, framing, and consistency.
Formatting Best Practices for Modern Galleries
To ensure your galleries look as professional as your results:
- Crop consistently and align “before” and “after” images side-by-side for direct comparison.
- Use uniform image sizes and aspect ratios to maintain balance on mobile and desktop devices.
- Include concise, keyword-rich case descriptions that highlight the patient’s goals, treatment, and results.
- Add discreet watermarking for brand protection while keeping the focus on your results.
- Label cases by procedure so visitors can quickly find what they’re looking for.
Following these standards creates a cohesive, trustworthy experience that mirrors the precision of your work.
Showcasing Your Work Effectively
Either way, showing more good before-and-after photography on your website is always beneficial. Managing large galleries manually can be time-consuming, however, especially as your practice grows and you add new cases.
That’s why we built our gallery management platform, Curator B&A. It’s designed to simplify the way plastic surgery and medical spa practices organize and present their patient photos.
Our goal with Curator has always been straightforward: make it easier for our client partners to upload, format, and optimize before-and-after images without sacrificing privacy, quality, or consistency. It helps you maintain professional standards for cropping, watermarking, and SEO so every image looks intentional and every case strengthens your story online.
Whether you’re starting from a small gallery or managing hundreds of cases, a structured tool like Curator simply keeps the process efficient and the presentation polished. This frees your team to focus on patient care and content creation.
Streamline Your Gallery for Growth
Your before-and-after photos are more than just proof. They’re a story of your artistry, consistency, and care. By showing more cases, maintaining high photographic standards, and keeping your galleries current, you’ll build trust with patients and strengthen your reputation as an expert in your field.
If you’re ready to make your before-and-after gallery easier to manage and more effective in showcasing your results, our team can help you evaluate what’s working and where technology like Curator B&A might simplify your workflow. We’d love to share what we’ve learned from more than 20 years of helping aesthetic practices showcase their best work online. Contact us to start the conversation.
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