The relationship between self‐esteem and hair transplantation satisfaction in male androgenetic alopecia patients

BACKGROUND Frustrated with the embarrassing appearance, patients with androgenetic alopecia (AGA) suffer from poor quality of life and low self-esteem. Moreover, several researches indicate that self-esteem is an important factor affecting outcomes of cosmetic surgery. OBJECTIVE This retrospective study aims to investigate the impact of hair transplantation on patients' self-esteem and satisfaction with appearance, as well as relationship between self-esteem and patient satisfaction which includes preoperative and postoperative satisfaction. METHODS The preoperative and 9-month postoperative self-esteem were evaluated by Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (RSES), and preoperative satisfaction indicators (satisfaction with appearance, visual age and expected visual age) were assessed by Face-Q scale. At the same time, postoperative satisfaction indicators (satisfaction with appearance, visual age, satisfaction with decision, psychological well-being, and social function) were reevaluated as well. RESULTS Of the 1106 male AGA patients, 875 completed a 9-month postoperative questionnaire. Compared with preoperative scores, postoperative scores of self-esteem and satisfaction with appearance showed an increase of 1.56 and 30.25 respectively (P