Most Satisfied with Elective Plastic Surgery Appear
to be Older, Depression Patients
This may reflect more realistic expectations among
older patients, the researchers say
May
17, 2010 - Older patients and in particular those being treated for
depression are more likely to be satisfied with the results of their
elective facial plastic surgery, whereas overall optimism and pessimism
do not appear related to satisfaction with surgical outcomes, according
to a report in the May/June issue of Archives of Facial Plastic
Surgery, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.
Almost 12 million cosmetic procedures were
performed in 2007, a more than four-fold increase over the previous 10
years, according to background information in the article.
"Because more patients choose to undergo cosmetic
surgery, improvement of surgical outcomes becomes increasingly
important," the authors write.
"Currently, there is an emphasis in the plastic and
facial plastic surgery literature on surgical techniques to improve
surgical results. A relative improvement in surgical outcomes, however,
tends to be subjective and patient and/or surgeon satisfaction can be
highly unpredictable."
Jill L. Hessler, M.D., of Premier Plastic Surgery,
Palo Alto, Calif., and colleagues surveyed 51 patients at one facial
cosmetic surgery center between 2007 and 2008. Participants completed a
demographic questionnaire, a test to evaluate optimism and pessimism and
a surgical outcomes survey specific to their type of procedure (for
instance, facelift or nasal surgery).
Four to six months later, they again completed the
optimism/pessimism and surgical outcomes assessments. The four surgeons
at the center were also asked to participate.
Patients who were older than the average age of 53
were more satisfied with their surgical results than patients younger
than the average age. This may reflect more realistic expectations among
older patients, the authors note.
In addition, those currently being treated for
depression were more satisfied than those who were not being treated for
depression. No correlation was identified between a patient's optimism
or pessimism at the beginning of the study and later satisfaction, nor
did any other demographic factor assessed predict later satisfaction.
Patients and physicians generally agreed with
regard to satisfaction, although surgeons tended to be less positive in
their assessment of outcomes than were patients.
"The ability to preoperatively identify patient
characteristics (psychological, social or demographic) that might impact
the subjective perception of surgical outcome and predict
dissatisfaction with facial plastic surgery could be highly useful to
surgeons," the authors conclude.
"Although preliminary, our observations provide
insight into these relationships and identify potential associations,
which establish a basis upon which future studies can be built. In
particular, it will be interesting to design larger scale studies to
examine the potential associations between perceived surgical outcomes
and sex, education, marital status, depression and/or inclination toward
optimism/pessimism."
Keep up with the latest news for senior citizens, baby
boomers
May
17, 2010 - Older patients and in particular those being treated for
depression are more likely to be satisfied with the results of their
elective facial plastic surgery, whereas overall optimism and pessimism
do not appear related to satisfaction with surgical outcomes, according
to a report in the May/June issue of Archives of Facial Plastic
Surgery, one of the JAMA/Archives journals. 
