The need for preoperative psychological risk assessment

Area of Science:

• Psychology
• Plastic Surgery
• Dental Surgery

Background:

• Elective surgery, particularly appearance-altering procedures, is associated with a high prevalence of adverse psychological outcomes.
• These outcomes include depression, posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and exacerbation of body dysmorphic disorder (BDD) symptoms.
• Severe psychological distress can manifest as self-harm, litigation, harassment, or even homicide, underscoring the need for intervention.

Purpose of the Study:

• To review existing literature on psychological complications following elective surgery.
• To highlight the critical need for standardized psychological risk assessment (PRA) protocols.
• To propose a practical approach for PRA in dental and surgical practices.

Main Methods:

• Comprehensive literature review of psychological outcomes in patients undergoing cosmetic and appearance-altering surgeries.
• Analysis of documented cases of severe psychological distress and adverse events.
• Development of a framework for psychological risk assessment.

Main Results:

• Psychological complications are more frequent than physical ones in elective, appearance-altering surgeries.
• Current medical and anesthetic risk stratification protocols lack a psychological counterpart.
• The review identifies a significant gap in systematic psychological risk evaluation.

Conclusions:

• There is a clear and urgent need for implementing psychological risk assessment (PRA) protocols in surgical and dental fields.
• The proposed PRA approach aims to identify at-risk patients and facilitate timely interventions.
• Integrating PRA can improve patient safety and outcomes, reducing the incidence of severe psychological distress.