Identifying the body dysmorphic patient in aesthetic surgery

Abstract

Body dysmorphic disorder (BDD), formally called body dysmorphophobia, is a psychiatric illness of perceived ugliness. The disorder has been referred to in the medical literature for nearly 100 years but only recently entered the psychiatric classification of diseases. Increasingly, patients with BDD seek out a cosmetic surgeon to find a solution to their perceived, oftendelusional body fixation and too often are profoundly dissatisfied with the outcomes of cosmetic surgery. Plastic surgeons have been aware of the difficulty operating on patients with psychiatric disorders and gave advice [5] to refuse surgery to those individuals with imagined disfigurement [14]. The plastic surgeon should be aware of BDD, know how to identify the possibility of its presence and refer to a mental health care professional, rather than unwittingly operate on a patient. © Springer-Verlag 2007.