Body dysmorphia disorder screening in medical aesthetic practice

Abstract

Background: Body dysmorphic disorder (BDD) is a concerning obsessive compulsive disorder and mental illness in which patients focus or are emotionally distraught with one or more physical flaws that most others do not observe with the same perspective. This illness is being seen at an increasing rate among patients seeking cosmetic medical treatments such as neuromodulator and dermal filler treatments. Currently, there lacks a standard of practice, including a screening process assessing for signs of this disorder. Across the literature, it has been shown that patients with undetected BDD symptoms treated with minimally invasive cosmetic treatments carry a high tendency of dissatisfaction with treatment results and pose a threat to themselves and the treating medical provider. Objectives: To implement a quality improvement project using an established BDD screening protocol within a medical aesthetic practice where minimally invasive cosmetic treatments are performed. A goal of a total of 200 screenings is to be collected by two medically licensed providers at two clinic sites. Methods: Initial screening of patient motivators for treatment, including three cryptic negative motivators. Upon selection of any of the negative motivators, automatic screening was performed using the Cosmetic Procedure Screening Questionnaire for Body Dysmorphic Disorder (COPS). Results: A total of 55 cryptic screenings examining patient motivators were collected in a four-week timeline from February 1, 2022 to March 1, 2022. The findings of initial screening results revealed 10 patients, or 18.18%, who selected one or more of the three negative motivators for treatment to be flagged for the Cosmetic Procedure Screening Questionnaire for Body Dysmorphic Disorder (COPS). Conclusions: The use of screening tools such as patient motivators for treatment and the COPS questionnaire are useful for a medical aesthetic practice to see baseline assessment of BDD symptomatology and consideration of use for a standard of practice change.