Plastic surgeons in Chicago and across the U.S. rely on patient feedback to hone their approaches. To assist in this process, an associate professor at Cornell University developed the FACE-Q, a tool for documenting patient-related outcomes following surgical and non-surgical facial aesthetic procedures.
Similar to the BREAST-Q, a survey I examined in a blog post in April, the results of the FACE-Q provide reliable information for evaluating patient-reported effects of facial enhancement. These results are organized by 4 domains: process of care, satisfaction with facial appearance, health-related quality of life, and adverse effects.
An article published in the January issue of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery® analyzes the effectiveness of the FACE-Q in measuring patient-reported outcomes for facelift surgery. A sample of 225 facelift patients who were evaluated using this new tool reported significantly improved scores for facial appearance following surgery. The article concludes that the FACE-Q is “scientifically sound and clinically meaningful.”
This new method for analyzing patient-reported outcomes is valuable, but it shouldn’t be the only approach. It’s important for surgeons to stay in contact with patients following procedures to ensure they understand all aspects of a person’s experience.
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