Which areas of the face bother women the most and which are most likely to be the first areas aesthetically treated? These questions were asked by researchers who designed and administered an online research survey to reveal women’s preferences for facial areas requiring treatment, the first published collection of systematic data of its kind. Researchers report their findings in the April 2015 issue of Dermatologic Surgery.
The study’s lead author Vic A Narurkar M.D., director and founder of the Bay Area Laser Institute and dermatology chair at the California Pacific Medical Center, San Francisco, tells Cosmetic Surgery Times that this is the first time a validated study has been done using the Maximum Difference (MaxDiff) scaling system, an approach for determining preference scores for multiple items.
The authors found a strong correlation between the most bothersome facial area and the area first planned for treatment, prioritizing crow's feet, oral commissures and tear troughs.
“[Cosmetic Surgery Times readers] can utilize this information when they are evaluating aesthetically naive patients — especially new patients who are considering noninvasive cosmetic procedures,” Dr. Narurkar says. “This will be very helpful when physicians start the dialogue with new patients about appropriate procedures and indications.”
In This Article
Survey Specifics
A total of 603 women between the ages of 30 and 65 participated in an online research survey, which asked about their facial treatment preferences. Survey participants were selected based on an expressed desire to improve their facial appearances and / or to age with grace. Study participants were dermal filler and neuromodulator naive, but aware of Botox and considering some form of medical facial treatment in a doctor’s office in the next 2 years.
The women rated their aesthetic concerns (from one to six) for 14 facial areas: the forehead, glabella, temporal region, lateral canthal area, infraorbital, cheeks, nasolabial folds, lips, perioral area (including perioral lines), oral commissures and marionette lines, jawline, chin and eye lashes, according to the study.
“To determine which facial areas were most likely to be treated first, women were presented with 14 different combinations of three of the facial areas described above, and using the Maximum Difference (MaxDiff) scaling system (Sawtooth Software, Inc., Orem, Utah) they were asked to select the one area ‘most likely to treat first’ and the one area “least likely to treat first” for each combination presented.,” the study authors write.
What A Girl Wants
Among the women studied, this is what they revealed as likely to treat first:
- Crow’s feet (82% of the first preferences)
- Oral commissures (74%)
- Tear troughs (72%)
- Forehead lines (66%)
- Glabellar lines (65%)
- Nasolabial folds (56%)
- Marionette lines (50%)
- Perioral lines (49%)
The authors found a strong correlation between the most bothersome facial area and the area first planned for treatment. Women younger than 45 years were more likely than women 50 and older to want to treat upper face features first. Women 50 years and older indicated an increased preference for treating lower face features.
“What was surprising is that, regardless of the age of the patient, the crow’s feet were the main concern,” Dr. Narurkar says.
The 30- to 34-year-olds surveyed said they were least concerned with treatments for the jawline, cheeks and chin; 60- to 65-year-olds were least concerned with treatments that would improve their temporal region, cheeks and chin.
“[Cosmetic Surgery Times readers] can utilize this information when they are evaluating aesthetically naive patients — especially new patients who are considering noninvasive cosmetic procedures,” Dr. Narurkar says. “This will be very helpful when physicians start the dialogue with new patients about appropriate procedures and indications.”
Next Up: Men
Next to be surveyed: men, according to the dermatologist.
“We have just completed a similar MaxDiff analysis on male patients, and the results of that study will be presented at the annual [American Society for Dermatologic Surgery] ASDS meeting in October 2015 in Chicago,” Dr. Narurkar says.
