Social physique anxiety levels and influential factors in women who have aesthetic surgery

Abstract

This study aimed to investigate social physique anxiety levels and influential factors in women who have aesthetic surgery. Material and Methods: The study sample included 289 women who underwent aesthetic surgery. Results: The average period of time that women had considered aesthetic surgery was 38.91 ± 3.73/months. The first trait that participants hoped to gain with aesthetic surgery was "being more relaxed and confident" (69.2%). The women who learned about the aesthetic surgery they had from the media (e.g. TV, newspapers), and said that the people around them "judged/condemned" them for having aesthetic surgery, obtained higher total mean scores on the "Social Physique Anxiety Scale" than the other women (p< .05). Conclusion: The study also found that the waiting period for the aesthetic surgery was long, the women were mainly affected by their social environment and the media, and those who had negative feedback from their social environment had higher social physique anxiety. It is recommended to investigate aesthetic surgical operations in large sample groups including frequent genital aesthetic surgery such as labioplasty and vaginoplasty.