Stripping scanners at airports. What do employees see on their screens? (10 photos)
While a regular metal detector frame simply detects metal objects, X-ray and microwave scanners create a full body image on the screen and allow you to see not only metal, but also ceramic, plastic, rubber and other objects hidden under clothing and, they say, even inside the human body. 
So what happens: security officers see us completely naked and in all details on their screens?
I asked myself this question every time I entered the round transparent body scanner booth at Domodedovo Airport, where the first such device was installed back in 2007. After all, it just so happened that for about ten years now, almost all my travels began at Domodedovo.
It wasn't about shyness - I was just terribly interested in what the airport workers saw on the screen. But then there was the flight, overseas countries, impressions... And everything was forgotten until the next trip. 
A girl inside a microwave body scanner at the airport.
I'll start with the fact that body scanners are X-ray and microwave. You'll agree, even their names are scary! And although the effect of these devices on the human body is not the topic of this article, I will still note that despite the scary names, these scanners are safe for humans.
An X-ray scanner, for example, produces radiation comparable to several minutes of flight on an airplane or a dental X-ray:
Inspection using the SibScan X-ray system - 0.5 microsieverts,
Radiation during the Moscow-Bangkok flight - 45 microsieverts,
A dental X-ray - 1 microsievert. 
X-ray scanner.
The X-ray scanner looks like two cabinets, between which an airline passenger stands on special marks. The employee servicing the device ultimately receives two images - from the front and from the back.
In these images, less dense muscles, skin and other human tissues look light. And metal bracelets, weapons, watches, buckles and even piercings - dark. Something like this: 
Or like this: 
A microwave scanner is usually compared to a mobile phone or router in terms of radiation intensity.
It looks like a transparent booth in which two antennas radiate millimeter-range waves, for which clothing and other similar materials are completely transparent, move around the human body once in a circle. 
These devices create very high-quality and clear three-dimensional images, much more realistic and detailed than X-ray scanners.
Like this: 
And it is microwave scanners that are installed at Domodedovo Airport, for example. But...
You shouldn't refuse to undergo contactless screening on microwave scanners because you're afraid that airport security will see you naked. 
After all, back in 2018, the latest versions of these devices were installed at Domodedovo, which "fully comply with international standards in the field of ensuring the privacy of air passengers."
So that you understand, now the employees servicing the scanners cannot examine the passenger's body. They only see a schematic image, which highlights the locations where additional screening is required.
It looks like this: 
The girl's arms have squares that indicate areas that require additional inspection. Photo from https://www.kp.ru/
Or like this: 
There is something suspicious on the left thigh.
If for some reason you do not want to go through the scanner, you have every right to do so. I haven't tried it, but people say that in this case you will be asked to undergo a manual search by an employee of the same gender as you.
But if you refuse the manual search, then most likely your flight will not take place.
