Cosmetic surgery may boost mental health

Roughly a third of patients who take antidepressants and undergo cosmetic plastic surgery discontinue these medications after the operation, according to study findings presented Sunday at the American Society of Plastic Surgeons meeting in San Francisco.

Lead researcher Dr. Bruce Freedman told Reuters Health that while the cosmetic procedures were associated with marked improvements in self-esteem, this did not explain why many antidepressant users were able to stop taking the drugs after surgery.

"The percentage of patients reporting an improvement in self-esteem was similar among patients who were and were not able to stop their antidepressants," noted Freedman, a surgeon in private practice in the Washington, DC metropolitan area. "So, it appears that it wasn't a self-esteem effect. Instead, it may relate to a separate effect on quality of life."

The study involved 362 consecutive patients who underwent cosmetic surgery over a 1-year period. Most of the patients were middle-aged women. The most common operations performed included breast augmentation, tummy tucks, and face lifts.

Sixty-one patients (17 percent) were antidepressant users before surgery. Freedman said that his team did not have information on the specific mental health diagnoses of these patients, or whether their depression related to a physical attribute that was to be altered with the surgery.

By 6 months after surgery, the number of antidepressant users had dropped 31 percent to 42 patients. Ninety-eight percent of patients reported a marked improvement in self-esteem following surgery.

But not all research has linked cosmetic surgery with beneficial effects on mental health.

A number of studies have come out in recent years showing an increased risk of suicide in women who undergo breast augmentation. Freedman said that this may be because the operation selects patients who are at heightened risk for suicide, rather than the procedure having any adverse effects that cause them to commit suicide.