What are the factors influencing the uptake of non-surgical facial aesthetic treatments in adults? A systematic review

Abstract

Awareness of the patient motivational factors that predispose them to an emotionally healthy treatment outcome is a critical part of the patient assessment. However, this area is lacking in research and poorly understood. The growing popularity, availability and acceptance of facial aesthetics procedures amongst the general population highlight the need for clinicians to understand the patient motivational factors to improve treatment overall, particularly on a psychological level. The aim of this paper is therefore to identify the characteristics and motivational factors of patients seeking non-surgical facial aesthetics treatments; while not all patients seeking treatments are at psychological risk, how this knowledge benefits clinical practice on an emotional level is also discussed. To conduct this study, medical literature was searched and 39 studies were assessed for eligibility. Based on given criteria, six studies were selected for review. The included studies revealed that interested patients were mostly educated women over the age of 30 with a history of receiving facial aesthetics treatments, seeking improved self-confidence as their main treatment outcome. These patients were more likely to have a satisfactory post-treatment result with lower tendencies of psychological risk.