The effect of cosmetic surgery on self-esteem and body image: a systematic review and meta-analysis of clinical trial studies

Background Making changes to one's appearance as a result of psychological trauma can have an impact on one's daily life, social activities, and, ultimately, one's quality of life. Several existing studies have assessed people's psychology for making a surgery request, demonstrating varying levels of satisfaction with cosmetic surgery, but the results of these studies are contradictory. One of the aims of this meta-analysis is to highlight some of the assumptions made in these studies and clarify the inconsistencies. Moreover, this study aims to determine the effect of cosmetic surgery on self-esteem and body image. Methods This study included articles published in international databases of Cochrane, Embase, Science Direct, Scopus, PubMed, and Web of Science (WoS) from 2001 to 2019. Heterogeneity between studies was assessed using Cochran's (Q)(c) and I-2 tests. Due to the found heterogeneity, the random-effects model was used to estimate the standard mean difference of cosmetic surgery tests to measure self-esteem and body image in the intervention group before and after the test. Results This systematic meta-analysis and review included 23 articles (13 on self-esteem and 10 on body image). The initial studies included in the meta-analysis had samples of 1232 in the self-esteem intervention group and 1083 in the body image intervention group. In the study of the mean difference between self-esteem and body image before and after cosmetic surgery, the difference between self-esteem scores before and after surgery was 1.1 +/- 0.24, which showed an increase in the average score after surgery, and the difference between body image scores was 1.3 +/- 0.36. The increase in the mean score indicates postoperative compared to preoperative (P(<)0.01). Conclusions This study's findings indicate that cosmetic surgery improves self-esteem and body image, which may be of interest to health policymakers and professionals.