Self-esteem and personality in patients with body dysmorphic disorder undergoing cosmetic rhinoplasty

Abstract

Psychiatrists see the interface of beauty with mental health, self-esteem, and mental illness; plastic and cosmetic surgeons may encounter a broad spectrum of patients including those whose pursuit of enhanced cosmetic appearance is extremely maladaptive. In cosmetic and plastic surgery, the operative competence is not focused on the correction of pathological disorders, but on the amendment of some morphologic traits not accepted by the patient, or not adherent with the aesthetic canons of the time, although they are absolutely compatible with the norm. This may represent a problem for subjects - as patients with body dysmorphic disorder or narcissistic and histrionic personality disorders - whose judgment is impaired because of their psychiatric illnesses.