Quality of life and self-esteem after breast asymmetry surgery.

Background: Surgical correction of breast asymmetry involves not only an acceptable aesthetic result but also physical, social, and psychological consequences on the patient's quality of life.

Objective: The authors evaluated the impact of breast asymmetry surgical treatment on self-esteem and health-related quality of life in a group of 35 patients.

Methods: Patients completed the Medical Outcomes Study 36-Item Short Form Health Survey (SF-36), a generic health evaluation tool that covers quality of life across 8 dimensions, and the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale, a specific tool for evaluating self-esteem. Both were applied before and at 3 and 6 months after surgery. Friedman two-way analysis of variance and the Tukey test were used to compare the differences between the scores and the different time periods.

Results: There was a progressive improvement in all dimensions of the SF-36 that was statistically significant for 4 dimensions and self-esteem. Statistically significant differences were found for "emotional role" and "self-esteem" at 3 months after surgery and for "pain," "vitality," and "mental health" at 6 months after surgery.

Conclusions: The results suggest that breast asymmetry surgical treatment provides an improvement in health-related quality of life and self-esteem.