Nose Job Patients Are Often Suffering From Body Dysmorphic Disorder

Written by Jamie Stowe| Thursday, 04 August 2011| There is 1 comment

A new study claims that a lot of the people who do not like their noses could be suffering from a form of mental illness. The study which was done by a team of Belgian plastic surgeons concludes that around one prospective rhinoplasty patient in three has a condition called body dysmorphic disorder which is defined as having an unhealthy and exaggerated preoccupation with minor and even  imaginary defects in their appearance./p>

Researchers looked at over 260 individuals who visited plastic surgeons in Belgium for rhinoplasty operations.  They were all given questionnaires which were designed to assess whether they suffered from the obvious symptoms of body dysmorphic disorder. Interestingly those individuals who were seeking rhinoplasty for breathing problems or other medical reasons as opposed to cosmetic reasons very rarely [2%] showed signs of body dysmorphic disorder. In fact, the figures showed that 43 percent of the prospective patients who wanted rhinoplasty for cosmetic reasons had clear indications of the mental illness.

Just because somebody wants to have a rhinoplasty operation obviously does not necessarily mean that they are suffering from mental illness, but individuals who have relatively normal noses but who obsess about correcting slight and imagined problems maybe should be getting psychiatric counseling rather than cosmetic surgery.

The new research which was published by the clinical journal, Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery paints a worrying picture about individuals who go for nose jobs. It was previously estimated that only around ten percent of potential rhinoplasty patients suffered from body dysmorphic disorder.

Some people who have very big and ugly noses will obviously be concerned about them and this is normal, but when a slight nose defect causes people to be unable to maintain normal relationships and the stress associated with this defect is excessive, the chances are they should be going to get some psychiatric help. Some of the plastic surgeons said that some of the patients were trying to draw attention to defects which really should not be considered a problem.

Plastic surgeons should be on the lookout for patients suffering from body dysmorphic disorder and the ethical course of action should be to advise counseling rather than surgery.

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