Sarah Boeckman was preparing for cosmetic surgery on her nose.

As part of the process, her surgeon, Dr. Brian Dorner, tested new software on Boeckman, which allowed him to take multiple photos, and then assemble them into a 3-D image.

Boeckman has cracked her nose three times - once in childhood, and twice as an adult playing with kids and pets.

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The latest break altered her appearance.

"So I thought, I'd like to do something. Noses don't get better looking over time.  So now I thought would be the time to do a little something about it," Boeckman said.

The technology is from the movies but has been adapted for the medical field, Dorner said.

Instead of just telling patients what he hopes to accomplish in surgery, Dorner can now show them.

"When you're trying to discuss a rhinoplasty with a patient, it's very difficult to have the patient see what my mind is envisioning," Dorner said. "And you can actually sit down and manipulate a three dimensional model of the patient's head and see exactly what you're going to be doing."

Boeckman said this extra step helped reinforce her decision to go under the knife.

"You'd rather know beforehand what you're going to look like as opposed to waking up and saying, oh, my gosh! That's not what I wanted!," Boeckman said.

Dorner said the software should be available to other doctors early next year.

So far, it is only used for noses, but Dorner said the company plans to develop other versions for other facial procedures.

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