Abstract
Thirty-four female patients who underwent rhinoplasty were followed through assessment of postsurgical satisfaction (pss), perception of subjective improvement, objective improvement (surgeon's ratings), and objective post-surgical nasal deformity. Assessments of pss and subjective improvement were obtained on 3 occasions: T1, 1 week after surgery, on cast removal; T2, 1 month after cast removal; and T3, 3 months after cast removal. The investigation was aimed at examination of the relationship of patients' subjective post-surgical appraisals of the operation with objective indices of outcome of rhinoplasty. Results indicated that at T1, pss is totally dissociated from objective outcome or its appraisal by the patient. At T2 an association between objective outcome and pss and subjective appraisal of outcome is evident, but seems to reflect the total reliance of the patients' judgment on surgeons' appraisals. At T3 a paradoxical trend is indicated: slim objective favorable outcomes correlate with high pss, while a considerable share of patients with whom a highly favorable outcome has been attained express relatively low pss. This paradoxical trend may be well understood when applying Cognitive Dissonance Theory. The whole pattern of results point again at highly complex and powerful psychological processes, some of them seemingly irrational, operating within patients when relating to rhinoplasty, a simple superficial surgical procedure.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Barsky AJ: Psychosomatic medicine and plastic surgery. In Psychosomatic Aspects of Surgery, Cantor AJ, Fox AN, editors, New York: Grune & Stratton, 1956, p 15
Edgerton MT, Jacobson WE, Meyer E: Surgical psychiatric study of patients seeking plastic surgery: 98 patients with minimal deformity. Br J Plast Surg13:136, 1961
Festinger L: A Theory of Cognitive Dissonance. Stanford: Standford University Press, 1957
Hill G, Silver AG: Psychodynamic and aesthetic motivations for plastic surgery. Psychosom Med13:345, 1950
Knorr NJ: Feminine loss of identity in rhinoplasty. Arch Otolaryngol96:11, 1972
Last U, Moses S, Mahler D: Mental health correlates of valid perception of nasal deformity in female applicants for aesthetic rhinoplasty. Aesth Plast Surg7:77, 1983
Linn G, Goldman S: Psychiatric observations concerning rhinoplasty. Psychosom Med11:307, 1949
Mahler D, Moses S, Last U: A measuring scale for objective evaluation of the nasal shape. Aesth Plast Surg7:223, 1983
Meyer E, Jacobson WE, Edgerton MT: Motivational patterns in patients seeking elective plastic surgery. 1. Women who seek rhinoplasty. Psychosom Med22:193, 1960
Moses S: Personality correlates of aspects of nose image in female applicants for aesthetic rhinoplasty. MA thesis, Department of Psychology, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, 1981
Reich J: The surgery of appearance, psychological and related aspects. Med J Aust2:5, 1969
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Moses, S., Last, U. & Mahler, D. After aesthetic rhinoplasty: New looks and psychological outlooks on post-surgical satisfaction. Aesth. Plast. Surg. 8, 213–217 (1984). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01570705
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01570705