HealthDay News — According to a study published in JAMA Facial Plastic Surgery, nearly 1 in 10 patients seeking facial plastic surgery suffers from body dysmorphic disorder (BDD), but doctors often do not spot the problem.
Lisa Earnest Ishii, MD, an associate professor of otolaryngology-head and neck surgery in the division of facial plastic and reconstructive surgery at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore, and her team screened 597 patients who sought facial plastic surgery consultations at 3 medical sites over 11 months.
Patients were given a specialized questionnaire that determined if they had BDD.
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Despite how commonly the psychiatric condition was identified by the questionnaire — almost 10% of patients screened positive — only 4% of patients had been suspected of having the problem by plastic surgeons.
“BDD is a common condition within facial plastic surgery practices, but surgeons have a low accuracy in identifying these patients when compared with validated screening instruments,” the authors write. “Routine use of validated BDD screening tools may improve patient care.”
Reference
Joseph AW, et al. “Prevalence of Body Dysmorphic Disorder and Surgeon Diagnostic Accuracy in Facial Plastic and Oculoplastic Surgery Clinics.” JAMA Facial Plast Surg. 2016. doi:10.1001/jamafacial.2016.1535. [Epub ahead of print]
