The May/June issue of Archives of Facial Plastic Surgery includes a report and results of a study conducted between 2007 and 2008 to measure patient satisfaction for patients who underwent plastic surgery. Dr. Jill L. Hessler of Premier Plastic Surgery in Palo Alto, Calif., and her colleagues surveyed 51 patients who had plastic surgery between 2007 and 2008.
They found that patients who were older than 53 years of age reported that they were more satisfied with their treatment than their younger counterparts. The study authors also noted in their report that patients who were being treated for depression were also more likely to be satisfied with their experience than those who weren’t. And the authors found that being pessimistic or optimistic had no impact on whether a patient felt more or less satisfied. Meaning, that dimension had no relevance to the results found.
Here’s are my thoughts on the study:
So perhaps older people are more satisfied because they know realistically what they should expect. Younger people on the other hand may be looking for instant overnight miracles which may result in them feeling that they didn’t quite get what they wanted.
Not sure what to think of the depression treated patients and their higher rate of satisfaction. Perhaps the drugs they were on created a more peaceful demeanor?
And I found it interesting that the optimism or pessimism nature of a patient didn’t weigh heavily in the results because logically speaking optimistic people have less to complain or be dissatisfied about than pessimistic people, right?
But in conclusion, I wonder about the purpose of the study in the first place given the small sample size and the overall conclusions from that study. Hmmm….
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