Measuring Patient-Reported Outcomes After Facial Paralysis Reconstruction Surgery Using the FACE-Q

Background: Patients affected by facial paralysis often experience significant psychosocial impairment, it is, therefore, essential to incorporate their perspective when assessing surgical outcomes. Objective: To study the effect of various patient- and treatment-specific factors on patient satisfaction after facial paralysis reconstruction as measured by FACE-Q. Methods: Seventy-two patients who underwent facial paralysis procedures by our senior author from 2000 to 2020 received the FACE-Q by email. Patient characteristics, duration of paralysis before surgery, type of surgery, complications, and secondary procedures were recorded. Results: Forty-one patients successfully completed the questionnaire. We found that men were significantly more satisfied with the decision to undergo surgery, older patients had significantly lower satisfaction scores with their face and psychosocial well-being, and uninsured patients had higher satisfaction scores with their face and their social and psychosocial well-being, whereas those items were significantly lower in patients with a long-standing facial paralysis. No differences were found between static and dynamic techniques, the presence of complications or the need for secondary procedures. Conclusions: This study found that decreased patient satisfaction was associated with older age, female sex, insured patients, and longer duration of the paralysis before treatment for facial paralysis reconstruction.