Longevity of the health benefits of breast reduction

​​Aesthetic surgery is available to a small number of patients of patients on the National Health Service (NHS) in Scotland, chosen from a large number of individuals who are referred for various procedures. The most popular and most frequently requested of all aesthetic procedures in the Scottish health board NHS Lothian is breast reduction surgery. ​This thesis examines the duration of the health benefits of breast reduction surgery in those who undergo it. It contains a detailed introduction to the clinical syndrome of breast dissatisfaction and a description of the Scottish Government’s Exceptional Referral Protocol that governs the Lothian aesthetic surgery pathway. A systematic review follows of the published studies that report on the duration of benefits of breast reduction surgery. A cross-sectional study is described that used the validated patient reported outcome measure (PROM) BREAST-Q to assess the body image, quality of life and satisfaction of patients who underwent breast reduction surgery in NHS Lothian up to thirteen years ago. ​It is hoped that the findings of the literature review and study that are described here will help clinicians, healthcare managers and policy makers alike reconsider the current approach to providing surgical care for those who suffer from the symptoms associated with having excessively large breasts. ​

Grantor dc:publisher

The University of Edinburgh

Year dc:date.issued

2023

Author dc:creator

• Aditya, Hosakere Subrahmanyam

Advisors dc:contributor.advisor

• Addison, Patrick
• Stewart, Ken

• breast reduction
• aesthetic surgery
• outcomes
• duration
• BREAST-Q
• cross-sectional study
• systematic review

Language dc:language.iso

en

Identifier URI

http://dx.doi.org/10.7488/era/3409

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:era.ed.ac.uk:1842/40648