Measuring outcomes in aesthetic surgery

Alderman, A; Chung, K. C.
Clinics in Plastic Surgery, 2013-04-01, Volúmen 40, Número 2, Pages 297-304

Evidence-based medicine (EBM) is being embraced by plastic surgery. Patient values are combined with scientific data to complement a plastic surgeon’s clinical experience. However, because scientific data are difficult to distill from the aesthetic literature, there are significant challenges to integrating EBM principles into the art of aesthetic surgery. The primary dilemmas are to define the desired goals of aesthetic surgery and determine how outcomes can be measured; these challenges still face this subspecialty of plastic surgery. The article presents an objective view of evidence – based medicine application to aesthetic surgery. The challenges are discussed and the points that create them are analyzed. Psychological and external factors in decision-making for aesthetic surgery are presented. The handling of surgical complications is presented as an example affecting reporting of outcomes.