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Satisfaction With Head and Neck Scar Appearance in Latin American Patients: A Cross-Sectional Study
Santiago Restrepo1, Santiago Rojas1, Alvaro Sanabria1,2,3
1Department of Surgery, Universidad de Antioquia School of Medicine, Medellin, Colombia.
Background:
Surgical scars have been related to poor quality of life, and this is important for head and neck scars. There is a paucity of data about the effect of scars on appearance in Latin American patients. The objective of this study was to describe the self-assessment of patient scars using the Patient Scar Assessment Questionnaire (PSAQ).
Methods:
This is a cross-sectional study. The validated Spanish version of the PSAQ was used. Adult patients who underwent elective head and neck surgery were included. Demographic and clinical data were obtained from clinical charts. Univariate and multivariate analysis using a forward logistic regression was planned to assess the weight of specific subscale items on the overall subscale score for appearance and satisfaction with appearance.
Results:
180 patients were recruited. A total of 144 (80%) patients were female, and the most frequent type of surgery was thyroidectomy. The global appearance, the global scar consciousness and the global scar appearance satisfaction was classified as excellent/good in 72.2%, 93.9% and 87.8% of patients, respectively. The multivariate analysis showed that color (OR 5.9, 95% CI 1.7-20.8), width (OR 58.9, [4.3-807.6]), and flatness (OR 5.7, [1.3-23.6]) were the items statistically associated with a regular/bad result in the appearance subscale.
Conclusions:
There is a high level of satisfaction with head and neck scar appearance, and these data should be used to assess the impact of surgical interventions on cosmesis. The intrinsic characteristics of scars are the most relevant for defining scar satisfaction.
