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The Unhappy Cosmetic Patient: Lessons From Unfavorable Online Reviews of Minimally and Noninvasive Cosmetic
Lauren E Watchmaker1, Jacqueline D Watchmaker2, Daniel Callaghan3
1University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health, Madison, Wisconsin.
Background:
The number of patients receiving minimally and noninvasive cosmetic procedures is increasing. Often, patients turn to online review forums to gain and share advice regarding cosmetic procedures. Understanding and discussing patient-reported outcome data can help align physician and patient expectations and ultimately help improve the patient experience.
Objective:
To determine the most common reasons patients are dissatisfied with a selection of minimally and noninvasive cosmetic procedures.
Materials And Methods:
Negative patient reviews from the RealSelf.com website were analyzed, and the reason for patient discontent was recorded for the following treatments: tissue stabilized-guided subscision, cryolipolysis, electromagnetic therapy, deoxycholic acid injections, energy-induced thermolysis, radio thermoplasty, threadlifts, and ultrasound therapy.
Results:
One thousand two hundred four reviews were included in analysis. For all treatments analyzed, the most common reason for patient dissatisfaction was ineffectiveness (n = 782, 65.0%), followed by complications (n = 301, 25.0%). The most common complications were as follows: lumps for tissue stabilized-guided subscision (n = 6, 50.0%), treated area enlargement for cryolipolysis (n = 23, 22.1%), swelling for deoxycholic acid injections (n = 9, 47.4%), numbness for energy-induced thermolysis (n = 6, 35.3%), fat loss for radio thermoplasty (n = 26, 53.1%) and ultrasound therapy (n = 32, 48.5%), and indentations for threadlifts (n = 10, 30.3%).
Conclusion:
Ineffectiveness and complications were the most common reasons for dissatisfaction among all treatments analyzed. Patient-reported outcome data may offer insight into how physicians can improve their patient's satisfaction with cosmetic procedures.
