Outcomes of facial cosmetic procedures

Facial cosmetic procedures lend themselves to outcomes studies in ways that traditional reconstructive procedures may not. The most important measures of outcome in facial cosmetic surgery are quality of life and patient satisfaction, in contrast to other, more objective measures such as complications or mortality rates. For this reason, outcomes research in facial cosmetic surgery deserves a special focus of attention. In this article, we review outcomes studies for the more common facial cosmetic procedures, discuss in depth what aspects of patient-related satisfaction have been quantified by these existing studies, and highlight the direction that future outcomes research projects may wish to follow. There exists an abundance of potential interesting areas of study in facial cosmetic surgery, and the application of outcomes research methodology to these realms may allow the facial plastic surgeon to better define the success or failure of each individual facial cosmetic surgery procedure.