I think it's more difficult than that. People are intimately aware when things are not what they seem. The brain is really good at being suspicious about stuff. If you take a photo and it comes out better than you can see yourself, then questions will be asked. This discontinuity does not sit well.

As for the professionals, a lot of stuff is edited yes. But there is an art to not needing to do any editing worth mentioning. I think there's some intellectual honesty in not painting over any cracks.