  Generative diffusion models can serve as a prior which ensures that solutions
of image restoration systems adhere to the manifold of natural images. However,
for restoring facial images, a personalized prior is necessary to accurately
represent and reconstruct unique facial features of a given individual. In this
paper, we propose a simple, yet effective, method for personalized restoration,
called Dual-Pivot Tuning - a two-stage approach that personalize a blind
restoration system while maintaining the integrity of the general prior and the
distinct role of each component. Our key observation is that for optimal
personalization, the generative model should be tuned around a fixed text
pivot, while the guiding network should be tuned in a generic
(non-personalized) manner, using the personalized generative model as a fixed
``pivot". This approach ensures that personalization does not interfere with
the restoration process, resulting in a natural appearance with high fidelity
to the person's identity and the attributes of the degraded image. We evaluated
our approach both qualitatively and quantitatively through extensive
experiments with images of widely recognized individuals, comparing it against
relevant baselines. Surprisingly, we found that our personalized prior not only
achieves higher fidelity to identity with respect to the person's identity, but
also outperforms state-of-the-art generic priors in terms of general image
quality. Project webpage: https://personalized-restoration.github.io
