Evaluating Predictors of Patient Satisfaction With Facial Appearance After Mohs Micrographic Surgery Using the FACE-Q.

BACKGROUND: Although patient satisfaction with reconstructive outcomes after facial skin cancer resection is an important consideration in Mohs surgery, there is limited information evaluating this concern using validated patient-reported outcome tools.

OBJECTIVE: To characterize predictors that may be associated with increased postoperative patient satisfaction with facial appearance after Mohs surgery using the FACE-Q/Skin Cancer survey, a patient-reported outcome tool that has been validated in various studies.

METHODS: A total of 202 patients who underwent Mohs surgery for facial skin cancer at the Brigham and Women's Faulkner Hospital between April 2017 and November 2021 were included after completing the postoperative Satisfaction with Facial Appearance scale (FACE-Q scale).

RESULTS: Male patients were significantly more likely to have higher satisfaction scores compared with female patients (aOR 2.4, 95% CI 1.1-5.1). Increased preoperative facial satisfaction scores was directly correlated with increased postoperative facial satisfaction scores (p < .01). Patients with tumors on the lower face/neck (aOR 3.88; 95% CI 1.4-10.7) had significantly greater satisfaction scores compared with those with tumors on their nose/nasolabial folds.

CONCLUSION: Potential interventions and counseling methods can be tailored toward specific patient populations with lower satisfaction scores to increase their overall satisfaction with reconstructive outcomes.