A Comparative Analysis of Patients' Quality of Life, Body Image and Self-confidence Before and After Aesthetic Rhinoplasty Surgery

Borujeni LA, Pourmotabed S, Abdoli Z, Ghaderi H, Mahmoodnia L, Sedehi M, Hasanpour Dehkordi A.

What this paper says

Among 100 rhinoplasty patients assessed before surgery and 3 months after, body image and self-esteem improved significantly, while quality of life improved without reaching statistical significance.

Overview

This study examined how rhinoplasty affects three psychological measures in patients at one surgical clinic. Questionnaires covering general health, rhinoplasty outcomes and self-esteem were completed before surgery and again three months afterward.

Sections of note

100 patients randomly selected from those referring for rhinoplasty surgery at Shahrekord surgical clinic.
Instruments: demographic questionnaires, rhinoplasty outcomes, the F 36 general health survey, and Rosenberg's self-esteem scale.
Questionnaires were completed before surgery and 3 months after; analysis used SPSS and data mining software.
63 percent of participants were female and 37 percent male.
Most participants were aged 20 to 24, followed by 25 to 30, with fewer in older groups.
Educational attainment was highest at BSc level; the most frequent employment categories were students and the unemployed.
Body image and self-esteem improved significantly after surgery, p below 0.005; quality of life improved but not significantly.

What it means for a patient

Self-esteem and body image improved measurably at three months.
Broader quality of life showed improvement that did not reach statistical significance.
Most patients in this group were in their early twenties, and students and unemployed people were the largest occupational categories.
Limits: 100 patients at one clinic, no control group, three months of follow-up, and the authors recommend specialist consultation before surgery without reporting screening data.

Why this paper matters

Psychological benefit is a common reason people give for seeking rhinoplasty, and this measures it on validated scales. The pattern, improvement in appearance-linked measures but not in general quality of life, matches other studies. Without a comparison group, some of the change may reflect time or expectation.

Terms

Body image: How a person perceives and feels about their own appearance.
Self-esteem: A person's overall sense of their own worth.
Rosenberg self-esteem scale: A widely used validated ten-item self-esteem questionnaire.
SF-36: A general health survey covering physical and mental quality of life.
Quality of life: How much a condition or treatment affects daily functioning and wellbeing.

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

From the abstract

“Having desired facial features creates a better mental image, results in increased self-confidence and boosts social activities to a more acceptable level. The goal of the current study is to investigate how rhinoplasty surgery affects patients admitted to Shahrekord surgical clinic. Methods: The study was conducted…”

Excerpt; the full abstract is on PubMed.