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Facial Appearance as Core Expression Scale: Benchmarks and Properties

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Abstract

Objective

Patients presenting for corrective facial surgery may have ideals that are not congruent with their surgeon’s expectations for surgical outcomes. To identify and reduce disparities in expectations, the Facial Appearance as Core Expression Scale (FACES) was developed to assess the extent to which individuals identify their own faces as representing their ideal self.

Method

In Study 1, 504 healthy young adult participants answered online questions about their own faces. In Study 2, 165 participants rated their own faces, digitally manipulated images of four patients before and after surgery, and two digitally averaged benchmark images.

Results

In Study 1, the final FACES instrument had seven items and was highly reliable across genders and races. Study 2 replicated reliability findings. The before surgery and after surgery pictures yielded significant improvements in ratings, suggesting scale validity.

Conclusions

The FACES consists of 14 items including a benchmark image to detect unusual responding. Results indicate the measure is reliable and sensitive to perceptions of surgical changes to faces. While the scale needs to be validated in a clinical sample, the measure may help identify patients with atypical ideal expectations for their face and may be used to quantify surgical outcomes.

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Acknowledgments

We thank the following Miami University undergraduate students who assisted with data collection: Alyssa Conyers, Natalie Goldfein-Killilea, Aiyana Green, Vasanthi Kalidindi, Tatum Moleski, Jordan Oldham, Sheysel Sanchez, Rachel Sullivan, Chase Tirey, Eleni Vidalis, Ellie Wallace, Margo Weber, and Zhenyang Yu.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, Miami University, Oxford, OH, USA

    Christopher R. Wolfe & Shelby N. Ortiz

  2. Department of Surgery, Division of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, University of Cincinnati, 200 Albert Sabin Way, ML0461 Academic Health Center, Cincinnati, OH, 45219-0461, USA

    Deepak G. Krishnan & Reese R. Triana

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  1. Christopher R. Wolfe
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  3. Shelby N. Ortiz
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All persons who meet authorship criteria are listed as authors, and all authors certify that they have participated sufficiently in the work to take public responsibility for the content, including participation in the concept, design, analysis, writing, or revision of the manuscript. Furthermore, each author certifies that this material or similar material has not been and will not be submitted to or published in any other publication before its appearance in the Journal of Maxillofacial and Oral Surgery. All persons who have made substantial contributions to the work reported in the manuscript (e.g., technical help, writing and editing assistance, general support), but who do not meet the criteria for authorship, are named in the Acknowledgements and have given us their written permission to be named. If we have not included an Acknowledgements, then that indicates that we have not received substantial contributions from non-authors.

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Correspondence to Deepak G. Krishnan.

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Wolfe, C.R., Krishnan, D.G., Ortiz, S.N. et al. Facial Appearance as Core Expression Scale: Benchmarks and Properties. J. Maxillofac. Oral Surg. 22, 873–878 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12663-022-01802-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12663-022-01802-6

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