Predicting Factors of Postoperative Satisfaction in Cosmetic Medicine

Abstract

Cosmetic physicians often encounter patients who are dissatisfied with an objectively descent postoperative result. A mismatch between doctor?s and patients? perception of the outcome leads to their frustration and occasionally aggressive behavior. Malpractice litigation and negative online reviews are also associated with a significant financial and psychological burden of cosmetic physicians. Better comprehension of the patients and their motivation to seek cosmetic procedures will improve their postoperative satisfaction. During the preoperative consultation, cosmetic physicians should aim to recognize patients who will benefit the less from the intervention. Even though there are no established clinical tools to help them, some psychosocial characteristics are associated with unsatisfactory outcomes. These factors are roughly categorized into endogenous and exogenous. Unrealistic expectations, minimal deformities, history of multiple cosmetic interventions, decisional disturbances (profile of ?maximizer?), looking for a secondary gain, familiar disagreement, body dysmorphic disorder, depression, anxiety, and personality disorders have been found to correlate with postoperative dissatisfaction. Even though none of the above is an absolute contraindication for cosmetic intervention, they should be taken into consideration to optimize patient selection during preoperative consultation.