Does a High-Quality Scar Overcome its Length? Italian Validation of the SCAR-Q Questionnaire

Scars play a pivotal role in plastic surgery: as surgeons, we continuously seek the best approach to perform a surgical procedure through a minimal access, possibly hidden in natural creases of the body, in order to create a scar less noticeable as possible. This behavior is explained by the fact that commonly, both patients and surgeons believe that the smaller the scar, the better the result. However, this is not always true and the quality of the scar is as important as its length (Barone in Aesthetic Plast Surg, 2022. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00266-022-03081-5 ). A small but widened scar can be less tolerated than a longer linear scar. Scar appearance is an important aspect influencing patient satisfaction after a surgical procedure that is often unaddressed (Barone in Aesthetic Plast Surg 42(6):1506-1518, 2018). The SCAR-Q represents the first validated comprehensive patient-reported outcome measure (PROM) designed for children and adults to assess scars (Klassen in Plast Reconstr Surg Glob Open 6(4):e1672, 2018). It is composed of three domains: scar appearance, scar symptoms, and psychosocial impact. The scar appearance scale investigates how bothered the patient is about his/her scar and consists of 12 items asking about length, width, color, shape, and size of the scar, as well as how it looks up close and from different angles. The symptoms scale investigates how bothered are patients by how their scar has felt in the past week and it consists of 12 items asking whether the scar is painful, numb, itchy, hard or firm, tight, and sensitive when touched, as well as whether the scar makes it hard to move parts of the face or body or do some activities. The psychosocial impact scale investigates how the patient feels about his/her scar and involves 5 items asking about feeling upset, embarrassed, or unhappy about the scar, as well as how they feel when someone sees their scar. The three scales are independent and can also be administered separately. Scores for SCAR-Q scales range from 0 to 100, with higher scores representing a better outcome. Following a rigorous five-step process in cooperation with the developers, our team translated and validated the SCAR-Q questionnaire in Italian in order to allow Italian surgeons to use it in their clinical practice overcoming the language barrier that was often encountered with patients who are not fluent in English. We believe this is a precious tool for plastic surgeon to assess patient satisfaction, any issues related specifically to the scar and analyze the outcomes of the procedure performed.Level of evidence V: This journal requires that authors assign a level of evidence to each article. For a full description of these Evidence-Based Medicine ratings, please refer to the Table of Contents or the online Instructions to Authors https://www.springer.com/00266 .