Quality of life in post-bariatric surgery patients undergoing aesthetic abdomi-noplasty: Our experience

Background/aim of the study: Aesthetic post-bariatric surgery abdominoplasty aims to reshape the abdominal wall in order to improve the patient's appearance and self-image. Patients who have undergone this surgery report significant improvements in self-esteem and quality of life. Material and Methods: The authors evaluated the quality of life in 30 patients (22 women and 8 men) aged 24-79 years (mean age: 50.5 years) undergoing aesthetic post-bariatric surgery abdominoplasty between January 2012 and September 2015. Quality of life and body image were measured with two self-report questionnaires: a basic questionnaire (BQ) and the Body Image As-sessment-Obesity (BIA-O). Results: At the end of the study, 58% of patients reported complete satisfaction with the aesthetic results, while 23% of patients expressed dissatisfaction with the surgical scars. Analysis of the responses to the BIA-O, showed that patients had a better and slimmer body image perception after surgery than they had preoperatively. Conclusion:Although our study sample was small, we could demonstrate that most patients undergoing aesthetic post-bariatric surgery abdominoplasty experience improvement in body image perception and quality of life.