Photo Credit: Saevich Mikalai

 Findings show that long-term patient satisfaction with oncological facial reconstructive surgery appears comparable to short-term patient satisfaction.

The FACE-Q Skin Cancer Module was developed to evaluate behavioral change, HRQOL, and patient satisfaction in patients with non-melanoma skin cancer (NMSC). Although this validated patient-reported outcome (PRO) measure has been used in recent studies reporting short-term PROs up to one year in patients who were surgically treated for facial skin cancer, long-term PROs after one year following oncological facial reconstructive surgery are unknown.

Findings published in JPRAS Open indicated that long-term patient satisfaction regarding facial appearance and scars after reconstructive surgery for facial skin cancer treatment appears comparable to short-term patient satisfaction.

“To our knowledge, this is the first study to investigate long-term satisfaction with facial appearance and scars more than one year following oncological facial reconstructive surgery, using the FACE-Q Skin Cancer Module,” wrote Juliette Nierich and colleagues. “Even though no formal comparison between short- and long-term data was performed, the results of this study appeared to be comparable to patient satisfaction reported after one to two years and could be used for counseling patients who need facial reconstructive surgery after MMS [Moh’s micrographic surgery].”

The single-center, cross-sectional study included 122 patients who underwent facial reconstruction after MMS for NMSC between 2006 and 2011. The median follow-up time between surgery and survey completion was 11 years. Most patients were women (65%), with a mean age of 60 years during facial reconstruction. Patients completed the FACE-Q Skin Cancer Module questionnaire, which included four scale scores: satisfaction with facial experience, appearance-related psychosocial distress, appraisal of scars, and cancer worry.

Patients who were surgically treated for squamous cell carcinoma reported poorer scores on satisfaction with facial appearance (P=0.038), appraisal of scars (P=0.039), and appearance-related psychosocial distress scales (P=0.036) compared with patients with basal cell carcinoma and lentigo maligna. Furthermore, female patients reported significantly higher scores on the Cancer Worry Scale versus male patients (P=0.047).

“Using our results, it is now possible to better inform patients on the long-term effects of facial reconstructive surgery in terms of satisfaction and quality of life, which is important to improve patient counseling, patient expectation management, and shared decision-making. For example, intensive support should be offered to young female patients with facial reconstruction since they tend to report higher psychological distress and cancer worry in the long-term.” the authors concluded.