Psychosocial Motivations of Young Females for Seeking Primary Cosmetic Nasal Surgery

The Primary Cosmetic Nasal Surgery (PCNS) is one of the most frequent operations in the field of plastic surgery. The aim of this study was to examine the psychosocial reasons for young females who are seeking to undergo PCNS for alternating their facial appearance. This was a retrospective, cross- sectional survey. We referred to the 2440 patients who had undergone PCNS by the main author at the Tehran Pasargad Hospital during 1996-2012.From the initial sample, 430 single healthy females, ages 20-30 with minimum of 12 years of education were entered the survey. We focused on their answers in the psychosocial chart which developed based on the Erik Erikson`s theory of psychosocial development (1959). Their different motivations for undergoing PCNS (own-decision, friend-advice, fiancé-request, job-issue, family-encouragement and miscellaneous) were collected and analyzed via SPSS version 16. The patients` average age and educational levels were 23±1 and 13±1 respectively. Their psychosocial concerns for seeking PCNS were: own-decision (50%), friend-advice (24%), fiancé request (12%), job issue (9%), family- opinion (3%) and miscellaneous (2%). Based on this survey, one may presume that patients` own-decisions were the most common concern for young females who seek for PCNS. Reasons of (friend- advice, fiancé- request, job- issue, family- opinion and the miscellaneous) were from the high to low considerations for seeking PCNS. Since these motivations may vary in different populations, related studies are recommended to find other psychosocial inspirations for choosing PCNS in different context.