(0512) Does Social Support Help Improve Self-Image Following Facial Contouring Procedures in a Tertiary Care Hospital?

Introduction: Psychosocial support affects patients’ management and outcomes in a huge array of medical and surgical interventions. Our study targets to evaluate the impact of various levels of social support on preoperative self-image and post-operative outcomes and complication in procedures of facial contouring.

Methods: We conducted a retrospective review of all patients who presented at our tertiary care teaching hospital for facial contouring procedures like chin augmentation, cheek augmentation, Botox, rhinoplasty, and non-surgical facial contouring procedures between 2015 and 2020. Demographics, postoperative outcomes, social support, and self image were the variable we studied in our study.

Results: In total, 459 patients underwent various facial contouring procedures between 2015 and 2020. Amongst these, 21.13% (97) had self-reported social support – either through family (39.17%, 38 out of 97), friends (35.5%, 34 out of 97), or other (19.58%, 19 out of 97). Patients who had familial support were 19 times more likely to rate their preoperative self image as “Very Positive” (p < 0.0001) and 3.7 times more likely to rate their self image as “Somewhat Positive” (p < 0.0001) in contrast to patients without any familial support. Likely, patient who had social support from friends were 29.49 and 9.17 times more likely to rate their self image as “Very Positive” or “Somewhat Positive” as compared to patients without social support from friends (p < 0.0001). Patients who had familial support were 2.39 times more likely to maintain their weight loss and positive attitude at 6 month follow-up than patients with other types of psychosocial support (p < 0.001). No significant difference was noted in the rate of complication between the two groups (p = 0.38).

Conclusions: Our study shows the value of assessing patients’ psychosocial support support in order to provide better management care and anticipate postoperative outcomes in facial contouring interventions.