Improvement in appearance anxiety following facial feminization surgery
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Abstract
BACKGROUND: Transgender women suffer a great deal of self-reported anxiety and concern about their facial appearance as they may readily be identified by observers as "trans" when they would prefer to be interpreted solely as women.
Little is known about the psychological distress that transgender individuals
experience in their decision to undergo major aesthetic plastic surgery as a result
of their appearance concern. As such, it remains unknown whether transgender
individuals experience improved appearance anxiety and a greater quality of life
following facial feminization surgery.
AIMS: The objective of this study is to determine, using the Derriford
Appearance Scale 24, whether any improvement can be seen among
transgender patients in their level of appearance anxiety following facial
feminization surgery. We also aim to look at whether additional improvements
can be seen in the quality of life of transgender patients.
METHODS: A prospective study was conducted on patients undergoing facial
feminization surgery. The outcome measure used was the Derriford Appearance
Scale 24. The Derriford Appearance Scale 24 was given to transgender patients
to fill out at the end of their pre-operative visit before their schedule facial
feminization surgery. The scale was then also administered three weeks
following surgery and three months following surgery, via the Internet.
RESULTS: Twenty-four patients were enrolled. Of these, fourteen patients
completed at least one of the surveys, post-operatively; twelve patients
completed all three surveys. Of those patients who completed at least two out of
the three surveys, scores revealed that 85% of transgender patients displayed
higher levels of psychological distress when completing the first survey, preoperatively,
than in subsequent post-operative surveys.
CONCLUSIONS: Transgender individuals enrolled in the study showed
decreased levels of distress both three weeks after surgery and three months
after surgery. These results were promising in displaying amelioration of
appearance anxiety following facial feminization surgery. Though results show
increased quality of life, the degree of impact that gender confirming facial
features may have on quality of life for transgender patients has yet to be assessed.
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This work is being made available in OpenBU by permission of its author, and is available for research purposes only. All rights are reserved to the author.