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1. Analysis of questionnaire results in a scar/keloid clinic in Nippon Medical School
Kosuke Shitara1, Ayaka Ide1, Satoshi Akaishi2, Rei Ogawa2
1:Graduate School of Medicine, Nippon Medical School, Tokyo, Japan
2:Department of Plastic, Reconstructive, and Aesthetic Surgery, Nippon Medical School, Tokyo, Japan
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In 2006, we established an outpatient clinic that specializes in scars and keloids. We developed a questionnaire recently that will help us to understand the concerns of the patients regarding their scars, thereby helping us to formulate their treatment plan. The questionnaire is also used to determine whether the treatment has relieved the patient's concerns. The questionnaire consists of eight questions that measure the intensity of the patient's concerns about his/her subjective symptoms (e.g., pain and itch) and scar-related psychological discomfort, and each question is answered by using a visual analog scale (VAS). All consecutive patients who came to the clinic during a 2 week period in June - July 2016 were asked to complete the questionnaire (N=221). There were 209 valid responses. The patients tended to be more strongly concerned about their scar-related psychological discomfort than their subjective symptoms. Moreover, our interventions tended to reduce the intensity of all concerns. However, patients whose treatment continued for more than 3 years tended to retain high levels of concern. This suggests that scar treatments should be concluded within 3 years. |
