This is an important if somewhat difficult to grasp article which tries to formally address the subject of patient-reported outcomes in oculofacial surgery. The authors have conducted an extensive review of the literature searching for instruments (questionnaires) which have been used to assess the success of an intervention from a patient’s perspective. The introduction explains the increasing importance of these measures, not only to prove the efficacy of an intervention, or the superiority of one treatment over another, but also the benefits to the doctor patient relationship and general delivery of care. Despite this, the authors state there is a relative lack of these tools in current practice and in oculofacial research. The paper divides the instruments which have been used into generic measures and those specific to oculoplastic conditions, and lists them in two tables. The generic table also contains the oculoplastic conditions for which each tool has been used, the most common being thyroid eye disease, blepharospasm and ptosis. The disease-specific table lists 32 publications of patient-reported outcome studies, many of which use ad hoc measures which lack repeatability and validity data. The generic tools are better developed but may lack sensitivity to the specific outcome of interest in a particular oculoplastic procedure. The authors have made no attempt to rank each tool in relation to a particular intervention, but the paper is a useful starting point for anyone considering introducing patient-reported outcomes into their practice or conducting research in this area.
Patient-reported outcomes in oculoplastic surgery
Reviewed by James Hsuan
Patient-reported outcomes: comprehensive analysis for the oculofacial clinician.
