A Prospective Investigation of Patient Satisfaction and Psychosocial Status Following Facial Bone Contouring Surgery using the Face-Q.

OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study was to assess satisfaction and psychosocial status before and after facial bone contouring surgery using the Face-Q.

METHODS: The Face-Q, a multimodular patient-reported outcome (PRO) instrument, comprises independently functioning scales and checklists designed to assess outcomes in facial aesthetic patients. A prospective cohort study was conducted from November 2020 to May 2022. Participants undergoing facial bone contouring surgery (reduction mandibuloplasty and/or malarplasty) were asked to complete the Face-Q preoperatively and 12 months postoperatively. Comparative analyses were conducted using normative Face-Q data from 534 matched normal individuals. Face-Q scores were evaluated for each domain on a scale of 0 to 100, with higher scores indicating greater satisfaction with appearance or a superior quality of life.

RESULTS: A total of 284 patients (274 female and 10 male) completed the Face-Q preoperatively and 12 months postoperatively. Of these, 146 underwent reduction mandibuloplasty, 18 underwent malarplasty, and 120 underwent both procedures. Post-surgery, patients experienced significant improvements in overall appearance, features altered by surgery, and quality of life, excluding the patient-perceived age. Preoperatively, patients demonstrated significantly lower scores compared to normative data, with scores significantly increasing postoperatively to levels representative of the general population. Satisfaction with outcome was significantly correlated with postoperative Face-Q measurements but not preoperatively.

CONCLUSION: Facial bone contouring surgery significantly improves the satisfaction and quality of life in patients with square faces, reaching a level at least equivalent to the normative population. The use of Face-Q should be highlighted in the clinic practice.

LEVEL OF EVIDENCE IV: This journal requires that authors assign a level of evidence to each article. For a full description of these Evidence-Based Medicine ratings, please refer to the Table of Contents or the online Instructions to Authors   www.springer.com/00266.