Assessment of self-esteem and psychological aspects in patients undergoing upper blepharoplasty

Abstract Objective: To evaluate the self-esteem and quality-of-life outcomes in patients undergoing upper blepharoplasty. Methods: A cross-sectional study was performed at Federal University of São Paulo. The self-esteem and quality-of-life of 29 patients undergoing upper blepharoplasty were compared with 20 age-matched volunteers from the general population. During preoperative assessment, the patients and volunteers underwent complete ophthalmological examinations and answered two questionnaires: the Rosenberg self-esteem scale (RSES) and the World Health Organization quality of life assessment (WHOQOL-BREF). The RSES is a ten-item questionnaire developed to measure self-esteem that are answered using a four-point scale. The scores range from 0 to 30, and lower scores indicate higher self-esteem. The WHOQOL-BREF is composed of 26 questions divided into four domains. Mean values greater than 5 are considered indicative of very good quality-of-life. Data from the RSES and quality-of-life scores were compared between the two groups using an unpaired t- test. Results: The mean self-esteem scores for the patients and volunteers were 10.31 ± 0.71 and 6.9 ± 0.99, respectively (p < 0.001). The mean response scores for the WHOQOL-BREF questionnaire for the patients and volunteers were 3.67 ± 0.08 and 3.76 ± 0.08, respectively (p = 0.449). For the psychological subscale of the WHOQOL-BREF questionnaire, the results for the patients and volunteers were 3.52 ± 0.09 and 3.78 ± 0.08, respectively (p = 0.041). Conclusions: Subjects who underwent upper blepharoplasty exhibited worse self-esteem based on the RSES. Regarding quality-of-life, as assessed using the WHOQOL-BREF questionnaire, significant differences between the groups were evident in the psychological aspects subscale. Our study confirms the importance of subjecting patients to psychological evaluation prior to upper blepharoplasty.