Quality of life and self-esteem after breast asymmetry surgery.
BACKGROUND
Surgical correction of breast asymmetry involves not only an acceptable aesthetic result but also physical, social, and psychological consequences on the patient's quality of life.


OBJECTIVE
The authors evaluated the impact of breast asymmetry surgical treatment on self-esteem and health-related quality of life in a group of 35 patients.


METHODS
Patients completed the Medical Outcomes Study 36-Item Short Form Health Survey (SF-36), a generic health evaluation tool that covers quality of life across 8 dimensions, and the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale, a specific tool for evaluating self-esteem. Both were applied before and at 3 and 6 months after surgery. Friedman two-way analysis of variance and the Tukey test were used to compare the differences between the scores and the different time periods.


RESULTS
There was a progressive improvement in all dimensions of the SF-36 that was statistically significant for 4 dimensions and self-esteem. Statistically significant differences were found for "emotional role" and "self-esteem" at 3 months after surgery and for "pain," "vitality," and "mental health" at 6 months after surgery.


CONCLUSIONS
The results suggest that breast asymmetry surgical treatment provides an improvement in health-related quality of life and self-esteem.
Sabino Neto
Miguel
M
Department of Plastic Surgery, Federal University of São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil. msabino@uol.com.br
da Silva
Ana Lucia Alves Lemos
AL
Garcia
Elvio Bueno
EB
Freire
Marcia
M
Ferreira
Lydia
L