Standardised aesthetic treatments

BACKGROUND: Patients often seek guidance from the aesthetic practitioners regarding treatments to enhance their 'beauty'. Is there a science behind the art of assessment and if so is it measurable? Through the centuries, this question has challenged scholars, artists and surgeons. AIMS AND OBJECTIVES: This study aims to undertake a review of the evidence behind quantitative facial measurements in assessing beauty to help the practitioner in everyday aesthetic practice...

PURPOSE: A gold standard for evaluation of aesthetic outcome after breast-conserving therapy (BCT) is still lacking. The BCCT.core software has been developed to assess aesthetic result in a standardised way. We aimed to study how the result of BCCT.core after BCT is associated with quality of life, measured with the BREAST-Q™, a validated questionnaire. METHODS: Women eligible for BCT were consecutively recruited between February 1st 2008 and January 31st 2012 (n = 653)...

External cutaneous photography involves photographic documentation, which helps in treatment planning, documentation of facial features, teaching, publishing and pre- and post-procedural comparisons. The key is not simply documenting, but documenting it the right way and ensuring that photography is standardised and reproducible. In this review, basic photography techniques, standardised and reproducible angles such as frontal, oblique and lateral views and specific photographic angles for conditions such as facial rejuvenation are discussed...

Painful acute cysts in the natal cleft or lower back, known as pilonidal sinus disease, are a severe burden to many younger patients. Although surgical intervention is the preferred first line treatment, postsurgical wound healing disturbances are frequently reported due to infection or other complications. Different treatment options of pilonidal cysts have been discussed in the literature, however, no standardised guideline for the postsurgical wound treatment is available. After surgery, a common recommended treatment to patients is rinsing the wound with clean water and dressing with a sterile compress...

PURPOSE: To evaluate the effectiveness of a bone substitute covered with a resorbable membrane versus open flap debridement for the treatment of periodontal infrabony defects. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Ninety-seven patients with one infrabony defect, which was 3 mm or deeper and at least 2 mm wide were randomly allocated either to grafting with a bone substitute covered with a resorbable barrier (BG group) or open flap debridement (OFD group) according to a parallel group design in five European centres...

Dental implant treatment is an effective modality to restore lost aesthetic and masticatory functions. However, healing after implant surgery takes at least 3-6 months. This prolonged healing period poses several difficulties for individuals with a large edentulous area and decreases their quality of life. Consequently, shortening the healing period and accelerating final prosthesis placement after surgery is very clinically important. Peri-implant bone formation may be enhanced by systemic approaches, such as the use of osteoporosis supplements, to promote bone metabolism...

Some chronic ulcers often occur with slough, not progressing through the normal stages of wound healing. Treatment is long and other therapies need to be performed in addition to surgery. Patients not eligible for surgery because of ASA class (American Society of Anesthesiologists class) appear to benefit from chemical therapy with collagenase or hydrocolloids in order to prepare the wound bed, promoting the healing process. We describe four cases of traumatic, upper limb deep wounds caused by different physical and chemical agents, emphasising the effectiveness of treatment based on topical application of collagenase and hyaluronic acid (HA) before standardised surgical procedures...

The removal of dissolved organic carbon (DOC) during potable water treatment is important for maintaining aesthetic water quality standards, minimising concentrations of micro-pollutants, controlling bacterial regrowth within distribution systems and, crucially, because it contains a sub-component that can act as trihalomethane (THM) precursors. In this study, the concentration and characteristics of raw water DOC and THM formation potential (THMFP) entering an upland potable water treatment works were analysed over twelve months...

INTRODUCTION: Obesity is a growing health problem in Europe and it causes many diseases. Many weight-reducing methods are reported in medical literature, but none of them proved to be effective in maintaining the results achieved over time. Self-empowerment can be an important innovative method, but an effectiveness study is necessary. In order to standardise the procedures for a randomised controlled study, a pilot study will be run to observe, measure and evaluate the effects of a period of self-empowerment group treatment on overweight/obese patients...

BACKGROUND: While there are internationally validated outcome measures for speech and facial growth in cleft lip and palate patients, there is no such internationally accepted system for assessing outcomes in facial aesthetics. METHOD: A systematic critical review of the scientific literature from the last 30 years using PUBMED, Medline and Google Scholar was conducted in-line with the PRISMA statement recommendations. This encompassed the most relevant manuscripts on aesthetic outcomes in cleft surgery in the English language...

BACKGROUND: Small-volume breast asymmetry is a challenging problem. In 2008, an intra-operative volume-adjustable breast implant, consisting of a round textured implant with an outer chamber filled with cohesive silicone gel and inner chamber filled with varying amounts of saline solution was marketed in Europe. We describe our experience in the correction of hypoplastic breasts with small-volume asymmetry using this device. METHODS: From May 2008 on, female patients presenting small-volume breast asymmetry were enrolled in the study...

An individual's face undergoes numerous changes throughout life. Since mid-face aesthetic units are key areas for rejuvenation procedures, their comprehensive assessment is essential for the development of any aesthetic management plan. Despite the availability of many evaluation criteria for treatment of mid-face ageing, there are discrepancies existing in both assessment and management approaches. The goal of this study was to determine if there are any identifiable profiles of clinical judgements and approaches related to the level of surgeon's experience...

Breast cancer is a very important public health issue, due its high incidence and mortality. Neoadjuvant chemotherapy has proven to be a valid option in the treatment of operable breast cancer and a better aesthetic result if breast- tumour ratio is unfavourable. The administration of the therapy itself is complicated, but the difficulty lies mainly in the management of side effects or adverse effects of the treatment. The emergence of a new therapeutic applications need to be constantly reviewed, which combined with the high work loads in the oncology day hospital requires easily managed, standardised and updated methodologies...

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of our study was to introduce the surgical procedure and long-term follow-up of finger-pulp defect treated with the homodigital laterodorsal fasciocutaneous flap, which is based on the dorsal branches of the proper palmar digital artery. METHODS: Seven cases with finger-pulp defect, which were treated by the homodigital laterodorsal fasciocutaneous flap based on the dorsal branches of the proper palmar digital artery, were involved in this study...

The objective of this article is to systematically assess the quality of web-based information in French language on the alcohol dependence. The authors analysed, using a standardised pro forma, the 20 most highly ranked pages identified by 3 common internet search engines using 2 keywords. Results show that a total of 45 sites were analysed. The authors conclude that the overall quality of the sites was relatively poor, especially for the description of possible treatments, however with a wide variability...

OBJECTIVES: Massive vascular malformations of the nose cause serious cosmetic, functional and psychological problems. Generally, no single treatment modality to date has provided satisfactory results. Therefore, multidisciplinary treatment approaches are being standardised. In spite of standard multidisciplinary treatments, especially postoperative outcomes in massive nasal vascular malformation cases are often aesthetically and functionally unsatisfactory due to the unique characteristics of the nose...

Current treatment of neoplastic disease that involves the external female genitalia aims to achieve local disease control, but not to restore form and function of these organs. Despite a growing trend to reduce the extent of surgical resection, impaired quality of life after surgery due to severe sexual dysfunction and disturbed body image is common. We postulate that the integration of surgical techniques for vulvar and vaginal reconstruction into primary treatment would improve aesthetic and functional results and therefore quality of life...

INTRODUCTION: The orbicularis retaining ligament (ORL) is a distinct anatomical structure that has only been recently characterised. A variety of techniques, based on Hamra's concepts, now divide this ligament during lower lid blepharoplasty. This often produces a substantial skin excess which is discarded. We set out to investigate the validity of this surgical manoeuvre as a means of recruiting anterior lamella for the purposes of lower lid reconstruction. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Between September 2002 and August 2004, 23 patients underwent reconstruction of the anterior lamella of their lower eyelid using this technique...

In determining patient satisfaction with functional and aesthetic outcome after reconstructive surgery, including nasal reconstruction, standardised assessment instruments are very important. These standardised tools are needed to adequately evaluate and compare outcome results. Since no such instrument existed for nasal reconstruction, a standardised evaluation questionnaire was developed to assess aesthetic and functional outcome after nasal reconstruction. Items of the Nasal Appearance and Function Evaluation Questionnaire (NAFEQ) were derived from both the literature and experiences with patients...

BACKGROUND: The goal of nasal reconstruction after a partial or total amputation is to achieve a nasal appearance as natural and normal as possible. It is assumed that laypersons' opinion on facial appearance could affect patient satisfaction or self-concept. The aim of this study was to assess laypersons' opinions on aesthetic outcome of nasal reconstruction. This was compared with the opinion of a professional panel. Second, the effect of informing laypersons about the previous nasal reconstruction of patients on their assessment of facial attractiveness and abnormality was studied...