Experiences and attitude among Saudi female University students towards cosmetic surgery

Objectives: This study aimed to estimate the prevalence of cosmetic surgery among Saudi female University students and to assess their experiences and attitudes toward cosmetic surgery. Methods: During 2012, a cross-sectional comparative study at King Abdulaziz University. Initially, a simple random sampling technique was employed to select relevant colleges from within the University. In the second stage, two to three courses from each graduating class were randomly selected. Finally, using the systematic random sampling strategy, each 4th student in the class was selected until the desired sample size was achieved. Two self-administered questionnaires were used for data collection: the Multidimensional Body-Self Relations Questionnaire and the Cosmetic Surgery Attitudes Questionnaire. Results: The response rate was 99.3%. Thirteen students (2.2%) had received cosmetic surgery, and 11.4% were potential cosmetic surgery candidates. Fifty-two percent of students agreed that the cost of cosmetic surgery would be a waste of money; however, 15.3% supported those who wanted to undergo surgery. The highest mean score of 3.93 + 0.47 was recorded for appearance orientation followed by appearance evaluation (3.86 + 0.68). Students who had been subjected to cosmetic surgery were significantly more concerned about overweight preoccupation (p < 0.05). Almost half of the students who had undergone cosmetic surgery agreed that social media had influenced their decisions. Conclusions: In this study, a small number of undergraduate University students had been subjected to cosmetic surgery, and 16% indicated that they would consider surgery later in life. Social media has a major impact on decision-making regarding cosmetic surgery.