PSYCHOSOCIAL STATUS OF WOMEN REQUESTING BREAST REDUCTION SURGERY AS COMPARED WITH A CONTROL-GROUP OF LARGE-BREASTED WOMEN

The breast has special significance for women but unlike women seeking breast augmentation little research has been carried out on those see king breast reduction. The few studies to date have not used well-reco gnized instruments nor appropriate controls. The present study compare d 33 patients on a waiting list with 22 large-breasted controls using a semistructured questionnaire and well-validated instruments. Patient s experienced greater physical and psychological difficulties but simi lar social difficulties as compared with the control group. Patients w ere also more anxious and depressed and had poorer self-esteem, body i mage, interpersonal functioning, and health status. This study confirm s the high psychological morbidity of patients seeking breast reductio n. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science Inc.