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Facial Line Outcomes Questionnaire accurately assesses impact of facial, crow’s feet lines

Researchers found the Facial Line Outcomes Questionnaire was an accurate tool for assessing the impact of upper facial lines, as well as the psychological effect of crow’s feet lines.

Face-to-face qualitative interviews were administered to two patient groups using the Facial Line Outcomes Questionnaire (FLO-11). Group one comprised 25 patients with upper facial lines (UFL), and group two included 41 patients with crow’s feet lines (CFL), specifically. Interviews included a concept elicitation and a cognitive debriefing phase.

Sixty percent of patients in group one reported their facial lines affected how “old” they looked, according to the researchers. Additionally, 20% of patients reported their UFL made them appear tired, 12% reported looking stressed, 10% reported appearing angry and 10% felt their UFL made them look less attractive.

The researchers found certain concepts were reported more frequently with regard to certain types of UFL. Although the concept of “looking tired” was mentioned most frequently in relation to CFL, “looking angry” was more strongly associated with glabellar lines.

Overall, the concepts of feeling stressed, angry and smooth were mentioned less frequently by group one but were still considered relevant to patients as the interviews reached conceptual saturation, according to the researchers.

Much like patients in group one, patients in group two most frequently cited the impact of CFL was looking older than they wanted to and/or older than their actual age.

Also similar to group one, patients in group two frequently reported looking tired, looking less attractive, looking stressed and looking angry as a result of CFL.

According to the researchers, 96% of the patients included in the study said they understood the purpose of the FLO-11, and a majority agreed that the questionnaire was understandable, comprehensive and easy to complete.

Eighty-five percent of patients in group two felt the questionnaire adequately assessed the psychological impacts of CFL, according to the researchers. – by Abigail Sutton

Disclosure: Yaworsky is a consultant for Allergan. Please see the full study for a list of all other authors’ relevant financial disclosures.