Does cosmetic surgery improve psychosocial wellbeing? Review uri icon

Overview

abstract

  • Both men and women are becoming increasingly concerned about their physical appearance and are seeking cosmetic enhancement. Most studies report that people are generally happy with the outcome of cosmetic procedures, but little rigorous evaluation has been done. More extensive ("type change") procedures (eg, rhinoplasty) appear to require greater psychological adjustment by the patient than "restorative" procedures (eg, face-lift). Patients who have unrealistic expectations of outcome are more likely to be dissatisfied with cosmetic procedures. Some people are never satisfied with cosmetic interventions, despite good procedural outcomes. Some of these have a psychiatric disorder called "body dysmorphic disorder".

publication date

  • June 17, 2002

Research

keywords

  • Body Image
  • Somatoform Disorders
  • Surgery, Plastic

Identity

PubMed Central ID

  • PMC1851945

Scopus Document Identifier

  • 0037124218

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

  • 10.5694/j.1326-5377.2002.tb04593.x

PubMed ID

  • 12064961

Additional Document Info

volume

  • 176

issue

  • 12