APS Aesthetic Plastic Surgery · 2019

Changes in the Indices of Body Image Concern, Sexual Self-Esteem and Sexual Body Image in Females Undergoing Cosmetic Rhinoplasty: A Single-Group Trial

Najjaran Toussi H, Shareh H.

What this paper says

Among 40 women assessed before and after cosmetic rhinoplasty, body image concern improved significantly, while sexual self-esteem and sexual body image showed no significant change.

Overview

Psychological motivations, including improving body image and self-esteem, are frequently cited reasons for seeking cosmetic surgery. This single-group study measured three related psychological indices before and after rhinoplasty to see which actually changed.

Sections of note

Single-group pretest-posttest quasi-experimental design; data collected March 2015 to January 2016.
40 women seeking nose surgery at beauty centers in Mashhad were selected by purposive sampling.
Instruments completed before and after surgery: Body Image Concern Inventory, Sexual Self-Esteem Index for Women, and Body Exposure during Sexual Activities Questionnaire.
Data were collected after informed consent, a structured clinical interview and a demographic checklist.
Body image concern improved significantly after rhinoplasty, p below 0.05.
Sexual self-esteem showed no significant difference between before and after, p above 0.05.
Sexual body image likewise showed no significant difference. Level of evidence III.

What it means for a patient

Concern about body appearance decreased after surgery, which is the outcome most directly related to the nose.
Broader psychological measures, specifically sexual self-esteem and body image during intimacy, did not change.
The authors conclude psychological function does not change significantly across the dimensions rhinoplasty touches.
Limits: 40 women, single group with no comparison, purposive rather than random sampling, one city, and no stated interval between surgery and reassessment.

Why this paper matters

Cosmetic surgery is often expected to produce broad psychological benefit, and this separates the specific from the general. Improvement was confined to the measure closest to the treated feature. Without a control group, some of the change could reflect time or expectation rather than the surgery.

Terms

Body image concern: Distress about one's own physical appearance.
Sexual self-esteem: How positively a person regards themselves as a sexual partner.
Quasi-experimental design: A study comparing before and after without random assignment or a control group.
Purposive sampling: Selecting participants deliberately rather than at random.
Pretest-posttest: Measuring the same people before and after an intervention.

Summary written by rhinoplasty.cc from the abstract, 2026-09-09; not medical advice. The authors' own abstract follows.

From the abstract

“Psychological factors play a major role in the tendency toward cosmetic surgery. Variety seeking, making changes in one's face and reducing apparent dissatisfaction, improving body image and increasing sexual self-esteem can be considered as some psychological aspects of cosmetic surgery. The present study was…”

Excerpt; the full abstract is on PubMed.