Jo Gilmartin argued that there is a growing number of morbidly obese patients who are seeking surgical solutions to there problems, such as bariatric surgery. Significant weight loss often leads to excessive skin, which leads to QoL problems, such as problems with pychosocial and physical functioning. This coupled with the immense pressures of being slender and beautiful for women and slender and healthy for men add to a complex context for people who have recieved surgical interventions. Even though more and more people are accessing what is known in the literature as ‘body contouring’, little is known about the QoL aspects of life after this surgery in the UK.
Whilst some literature report good outcomes in relation to a number of aspects of QoL, Gilmartin argued that these were often drawn from case notes, and questionnaires administered that may not capture the complexity of this particular patient group. This reporting may also have a asymmetrical power balnce going on, which distorts the actual picture of the actual outcomes.
Jo Gilmartin and her colleagues call for a more patient centred approach to this patient group in which more psychosocial apsects are captured in the QoL studies alongside a clearer healthcare pathway.
In order to do this, Gilmartin and colleagues are conducting a pilot study to
1. identify tools & procedures to inform a large scale multicentre study.
2. to identify QoL outcomes from body contouring following massive weight loss.
to find out more about this study please refer to the presentation slides attached:A Pilot Study-Body Contouring Jo Gilmartin