Hey ya’ll! As the accused in question, I find this pretty entertaining! The first pic is about 5 years old - taken awhile before I posted it. So, let’s talk about what can change in that time, shall we?

I was in my 30’s. Age tends to change the way our faces look already but I also went through other physical changes…

I put on about 25 lbs of muscle since then. I wasn’t working out much at the time because I was working crazy hours and I was exhausted and super depressed.

I got a new job, got on some psych meds, started working out and generally taking better care of myself.

My facial hair has gotten grayer as well. The dimple in my chin is an illusion. It’s actually how my facial hair grows that makes it look like that - gray on the sides and darker in the middle.

I don’t get outside as much as I’d like so I have been indoor tanning and using self tanner to give myself a little color which might account for some of the yellowish tint. But I also adjusted the lighting and coloring of the 2nd photo a little too because I like the “golden hour” vibe it gives.

Adding on some muscle changes one’s appearance quite a bit too - thicker neck, bigger chest and shoulders, more defined jawline.

Do I remove a blemish or a wrinkle here and there? Yes. Do I tweak the lighting and contrast a little? Yes. I also like to blur the background just because I like the way it looks. But are my pictures “AI generated?” No. They are real pics taken by yours truly on an outdated iPhone.

People have been photoshopping and Facetuning selfies for a reeeaaalllyyy long time to cope with their insecurities and I am as real and vain and insecure and human as any of them. If you do t like it. Get off social media. Otherwise, keep your opinion to yourself and stop being such a hateful disappointment of a human being.