title: Effect of facial rejuvenation surgery on perceived attractiveness, femininity, and personality.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To date, the conversation about facial rejuvenation surgery has focused on one goal: youthfulness. However, human beings are judged throughout life based on many other characteristics and personal qualities conveyed by their faces. The term facial profiling has been used to describe this act of determining personality attributes through visual observation.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To introduce the concept of facial profiling to the surgical literature and to evaluate and quantify the changes in personality perception that occur with facial rejuvenation surgery.
  
  
  METHODS
  This study was a retrospective evaluation of preoperative and postoperative photographs of 30 white female patients who underwent facial rejuvenation surgery between January 1, 2009, and December 31, 2013. Procedures included rhytidectomy (face-lift), upper blepharoplasty, lower blepharoplasty, eyebrow-lift, neck-lift, and/or chin implant. The 60 photographs (30 preoperative and 30 postoperative) of these patients were split into 6 groups, each with 5 preoperative and 5 postoperative photographs. The same patient's preoperative and postoperative photographs were not included in any single group to avoid any recall bias. At least 24 individuals rated each photograph for 6 personality traits (aggressiveness, extroversion, likeability, trustworthiness, risk seeking, and social skills), as well as for attractiveness and femininity. The raters were blinded as to the intent of the study.
  
  
  METHODS
  Ratings of personality traits, attractiveness, and femininity.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Of the 8 traits that were evaluated, analysis revealed 4 traits with statistically significant improvements when comparing preoperative and postoperative scores: likeability (+0.36, P < .01), social skills (+0.38, P = .01), attractiveness (+0.36, P = .01), and femininity (+0.39, P = .02). Improvement in scores for perceived trustworthiness (+0.22, P = .06), aggressiveness (-0.14, P = .32), extroversion (+0.19, P = .14), and risk seeking (+0.10, P = .27) did not demonstrate statistically significant changes.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Facial plastic surgery changes the perception of patients by those around them. Traditionally, these interventions have focused on improvements in youthful appearance, but this study illuminates the other dimensions of a patient's facial profile that are influenced by facial rejuvenation surgery. The data in this sample population demonstrate an increase in the perception of likeability, social skills, attractiveness, and femininity. To our knowledge, this is the first study in the surgical literature to evaluate these broader outcome measures after facial rejuvenation surgery.
  
  
  METHODS
  NA.
authors: Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, MedStar Georgetown University Hospital, Washington, DC2Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, Georgetown University Medical Center, Washington, DC.
authors: Michael J
authors: MJ
authors: Reilly
authors: Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, MedStar Georgetown University Hospital, Washington, DC3Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, Mercy Medical Center, St Louis, Missouri.
authors: Jaclyn A
authors: JA
authors: Tomsic
authors: MedStar Health Research Institute, Hyattsville, Maryland.
authors: Stephen J
authors: SJ
authors: Fernandez
authors: Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, MedStar Georgetown University Hospital, Washington, DC.
authors: Steven P
authors: SP
authors: Davison
mesh_terms: D001504:Beauty; D003357:Cosmetic Techniques; D005260:Female; D057227:Femininity; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D017060:Patient Satisfaction; D010551:Personality; D010781:Photography; D012060:Rejuvenation; D015361:Rhytidoplasty / Q000379:methods*