Facial Surgery Scarring Impact On Quality-of-life: The Perspectives Of Asian And Caucasian Patients
Stuti P. Garg, BA1, Rou Wan, MD2, Joshua P. Weissman, BBA1, Narainsai K. Reddy, MS3, Lin Lang, MD4, Marco F. Ellis, MD, FACS1, Gregory A. Dumanian, MD, FACS1, John YS Kim, MD, FACS1, Robert D. Galiano, MD, FACS1.
1Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, Chicago, IL, USA, 2Mayo Clinic Division of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, 3Texas A&M Health Science Center College of Medicine, Engineering Medicine (EnMed), Houston, TX, USA, 4Shanghai New Hongqiao Healthchoice Clinic, Shanghai, China.
PURPOSE: Scarring can result in significant morbidity that negatively impacts physical and psychosocial outcomes. There remains a need to study how scarring perception varies among ethnic groups and impacts broader themes such as career and sexual well-being. The objective of this study is to evaluate Caucasian and Asian patients' perception of the impact of their facial scars on symptoms, appearance, psychosocial health, career, and sexual well-being using the SCAR-Q and the Career/Sexual Well-Being (CS) scales.
METHODS: A total of 149 facial surgery patients (50.3% Asian, 49.7% Caucasian) from five providers completed the SCAR-Q and CS scales, with higher mean rank scores indicating a more positive perception.
RESULTS: The majority of patients underwent blepharoplasty (n=56), rhinoplasty (n=21), eyelid revision (n=19), face lift (n=18), or Mohs surgery (n=7). Caucasian patients scored significantly better than Asian patients on the SCAR-Q (86 vs. 64), appearance (89 vs. 61), psychosocial (83 vs. 67), and CS (93 vs. 58) scales (P=.003, P<.001, P=.017, and P<.001 respectively). There was a significant correlation between duration after surgery and symptoms for Asian (r=0.326, P=.004) and Caucasian patients (r=0.319, P=.011), but not for any other scales.
CONCLUSIONS: Asian patients are more likely to have more negative perceptions of their scar's appearance, symptoms, psychosocial, career, and sexual well-being impact than Caucasian patients. This study highlights the need to improve scar follow-up care, counseling, or other enhancement measures for patients of differing ethnicities.
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