Patient Perceived Benefit in Facial Aesthetic Procedures: FACE-Q as a Tool to Study Botulinum Toxin Injection Outcomes.

BACKGROUND: There are numerous methods of assessing patient satisfaction with botulinum toxin type A neuromodulation of the glabellar rhytids. As the use of aesthetic neuromodulation increases both in breadth and number of procedures, there is a need for more comprehensive tools to evaluate patient-reported outcomes. The FACE-Q is a recently validated patient-reported outcome instrument that can be used to measure patient perceptions of botulinum toxin type A neuromodulation. OBJECTIVES: This study used the FACE-Q to assess patient satisfaction following botulinum toxin type A neuromodulation of the glabellar rhytids. METHODS: 57 female patients completed the FACE-Q, a survey that evaluates patients' satisfaction with their facial appearance. After this baseline survey, the patients received injections of one of onabotulinumtoxinA (Botox, Allergan, Dublin, Ireland), abobotulinumtoxinA (Dysport, Galderma, Lausanne, Switzerland), or incobotulinumtoxinA (Xeomin, Merz Pharmaceuticals, Frankfurt am Main, Germany) in the glabella. Two weeks post-injection, the patients completed the FACE-Q again. The percentage changes in patient responses were tabulated to determine how neuromodulation affects patient satisfaction with their facial appearance. The percentage changes for each of the neurotoxin groups were compared to determine if patient satisfaction with neuromodulation varies with the type of neurotoxin. RESULTS: Patient satisfaction with their overall facial appearance increased by 28% following neuromodulation. Patients stated that they believe they look an average of 5.6 years younger post-neuromodulation. There were no significant differences among the treatment groups. CONCLUSIONS: The FACE-Q demonstrates that patients are more satisfied by their overall facial appearance and age appearance following neuromodulation of their glabellar rhytids. Patients are equally satisfied with the improvement of their facial appearance regardless of which neurotoxin they received. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE 2: Therapeutic.