Self-esteem and personality in subjects with and without body dysmorphic disorder traits undergoing cosmetic rhinoplasty: preliminary data

Background: Many individuals with body dysmorphic disorder (BDD) seek non-psychiatric treatment. BDD occurs in about 5% of patients who seek cosmetic surgery, and rhinoplasty is the most frequently sought treatment. A correlation exists between individuals' self-esteem and demand for cosmetic surgery.

Objective: To investigate whether those subjects with BDD traits requesting cosmetic rhinoplasty differ from those without BDD traits in self-esteem, personality and quality of life.

Methods: This study included 54 patients applying to the 1st ENT Division of Turin University. Assessment of the patients before cosmetic rhinoplasty includes: nasal obstruction symptom evaluation, health-related quality of life, Rosenberg self-esteem scale, body dysmorphic disorder questionnaire (BDDQ) and temperament and character inventory (TCI). Based on their responses to BDDQ questions 1, 3 and 4, patients were subdivided into subgroups and then compared.

Results: No difference emerged in the objective data. Lower self-esteem, higher harm avoidance (HA) and lower self-directedness (SD) are found in subjects who are worried about how they look, in those with interference in their social life due to this worry and in those who spend more than 3h per day thinking about the way they look. Novelty seeking (NS) is significantly higher in subjects who think about their looks for up to 3h than in those who spend less than 1h.

Conclusion: Different subgroups of patients are identified. The first group includes pessimistic, shy, insecure subjects; people with fragile and immature personality and poor self-esteem; individuals concerned about the way they look and those who spend more time thinking about it. The second group includes more confident subjects with stronger personality and greater self-esteem. A third, less differentiated group, includes more impulsive (high NS) subjects who spend an intermediate amount of time thinking about the way they look. Patients should be carefully screened and assessed before cosmetic surgery interventions to avoid frustration to both, clinicians and patients.