In this issue, we will discuss beauty and body dysmorphic disorder.
Nowadays, excessive awareness of beauty is becoming more and more of an issue.
It is said that the reason for this is that with the spread of social networking sites, it has become easy for anyone to post pictures of themselves and compare them to those around them on social networking sites.
As a result of these factors, the number of people suffering from mental disorders is also increasing? The following cases and discussions will discuss these issues.
Case
A 26-year-old woman
She visited the hospital to be examined for numerous facial lesions.
She is in distress and anxious and wishes to have her facial lesions treated and removed to improve her appearance.
She suffers from "irritability" and "ugliness" due to these lesions.
Physical examination revealed skin-colored papules on her bilateral cheeks, chin, and forehead.There are also multiple honey-colored crusted papules on the same areas.
The doctor diagnosed these lesions as melanocytic nevi of the skin and explained that they would require elective surgical excision for treatment.
I also told her that the surgical removal would leave multiple scars on her face.
She wanted to have the surgery, but the doctor advised her to think it over.
The doctor advised her to think it over, because the removal of the scars might cause other problems such as infection.
She was disappointed and burst into tears.
She said she would not be satisfied as long as she had the facial defect and would remove the lesion herself if the doctor would not perform the excision.
We learned that she had previously seen other dermatologists and plastic surgeons for the same condition.
She claimed that these facial lesions impaired her daily life, staring in the mirror for hours trying to remove the lesions herself, and refusing to go out because of this "ugliness" of her feelings.
Discussion from the case
A number of studies have shown that patients with body dysmorphic disorder (BDD) have poor psychological outcomes after cosmetic procedures.
A study of 250 adults with BDD found that 68.7% of treatments did not result in an improvement in the overall severity of BDD.Another study found that treatment that did not focus on the patient's area of distress helped with overall improvement.
In a study of 50 patients with BDD, 81% said they were dissatisfied or very dissatisfied with cosmetic interventions.
This is thought to be due to a greater concern for perceived "ugliness" than before the intervention, according to the plastic surgeons who operated on them.
Therefore, it is recommended that all invasive procedures, especially elective procedures, be avoided if BDD is suspected.
What is required is to empathize with the patient and approach the patient in an objective and non-judgmental manner.
This is because it is essential to manage the patient as a whole and not just focus on his or her shortcomings due to BDD.
In light of the above, this case study calls for the kind of intervention described above.
Saade DS, de Castro Maymone MB, Vashi NA. The ethics of the cosmetic consult: performing procedures on the body dysmorphic patient. Int J Womens Dermatol. 2018;4(3):185-187. published 2018 Jun 6. doi:10.1016/j.ijwd.2018.04.002
Conclusion
Body dysmorphic disorder (BDD) is a condition in which a person believes that his or her body shape is extremely ugly, even if others do not, and as a result, the person gets involved with others or becomes severely depressed.
As cosmetic and plastic surgeons, we may be required to provide more than just material care as a solution to these problems.In recent years, we judo therapists have been recommending self-funded treatments that work on the cosmetic aspects of the body, such as XX correction, but it seems that there are infinitely few people who understand BDD.
However, it seems that there are very few people who understand BDD. I learned a lot from this case just by learning about BDD.
