Factors Influencing Patient Satisfaction With Breast Augmentation: A BREAST-Q Effect of Magnitude Analysis.

BACKGROUND: Breast augmentation is one of the most performed cosmetic surgeries. Despite this, patient satisfaction following breast augmentation is poorly understood.

OBJECTIVES: To investigate which patient and surgical factors influence patient satisfaction following primary breast augmentation.

METHODS: The BREAST-Q Augmentation module was sent to all women undergoing primary breast augmentation at a single private clinic (Amalieklinikken, Copenhagen, Denmark) between 2012-2019. Patient and surgical characteristics at the time of surgery were obtained from the patients' medical records, and data on factors that occurred after the surgery (eg, breast feeding) was obtained by patient contact. Multivariate linear regression was used to model the impact of these factors on BREAST-Q outcomes.

RESULTS: A total of 554 women with a mean follow-up time of 5 years after primary breast augmentation were included in this study. Implant type and volume did not affect patient satisfaction. However, higher patient age was associated with significantly higher postoperative patient satisfaction, psychosocial well-being, and sexual well-being (p < 0.05). Conversely, higher patient BMI, postoperative weight gain and breastfeeding were associated with significantly lower satisfaction (p < 0.05). Additionally, subglandular implant placement was associated with significantly lower satisfaction with the outcome compared to submuscular implant placement (p < 0.05).

CONCLUSIONS: Implant type and volume did not affect patient satisfaction with breast augmentation. However, young age, higher BMI, subglandular implant placement, postoperative weight gain and were associated with lower patient satisfaction. These factors should be considered when aligning outcome expectations with breast augmentation.