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Evaluation of anxiety and pain in eyelid surgery patients: a pilot study
Stéphanie Lemaître1, Miguel González-Candial2
1Institut d'Investigació Biomèdica de Girona Dr. Josep Trueta (IDIBGI), Parc Hospitalari Martí i Julià de Salt, Girona, Spain; Ophthalmology Department, Hospital universitari de Girona Dr. Josep Trueta, Girona, Spain; Adnexal Service, Moorfields Eye Hospital, London, United Kingdom.
Objective:
A high level of preoperative anxiety may have negative consequences on the medical and psychological outcomes of a surgical intervention. The present study aims to identify the factors associated with high preoperative anxiety in eyelid surgery patients and to determine whether there is a relationship between preoperative anxiety and the pain felt during and after the procedure.
Design:
Prospective single-centre pilot study between December 2017 and April 2018.
Participants:
Consecutive patients undergoing elective eyelid surgery.
Methods:
The Amsterdam Preoperative Anxiety and Information Scale and a numeric rating scale were used to evaluate preoperative anxiety and need for information as well as peroperative and postoperative pain.
Results:
Thirty-two patients were included. Mean age at surgery was 65.8 years. Most patients underwent lateral canthoplasty (44%) or ptosis surgery (25%), and all had local anaesthesia. Thirty-eight percent of the patients had a high level of preoperative anxiety (i.e., unsuited to the situation of the surgical stress). Factors associated with higher levels of preoperative anxiety were female sex, age under 65 years, no previous oculoplastic surgery, and unilateral surgery. Patients who felt pain during and after the procedure were found to have had higher levels of preoperative anxiety than the patients who felt no pain.
Conclusions:
A high level of preoperative anxiety may increase the pain felt by the patient during and after the surgical procedure. It is therefore important to implement anxiolytic measures before an eyelid surgery is performed, especially in patients who have a risk of elevated preoperative anxiety.
