Patients' satisfaction with facial prostheses

We assessed the "impact on wellbeing" and "satisfaction" of patients who had a facial prosthesis (of the ear, nose, or orbit) fitted in The Netherlands Cancer Institute. Patients had either an adhesive-retained or an implant-retained facial prosthesis between 1951 and 2011. We did a cross-sectional survey of 104 patients, then gave a questionnaire to the final study group of 71 (68%), a year or more later. All were satisfied with their prostheses (visual analogue scale (VAS): mean (SD) 8.1(1.5). The implant-retained group were the most satisfied (p = 0.022), and the adhesive-retained group felt more self-conscious (p = 0.013). Three-quarters of all patients said that the prosthesis was not painful and there were no problems with the way it functioned. A well-designed facial prosthesis has obvious benefits, but there were no appreciable differences between the two groups. Each patient must make a careful decision about which type of prosthesis to choose, taking into account the quality of their remaining tissue, the site of the defect, and their general health. (C) 2015 The British Association of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.