Undergoing surgery is a stressful process for many patients. By its nature, dermatologic surgery carries additional stressors given that it is performed on the skin, a very cosmetically sensitive area. In our dermatologic surgery practice, we have found that patients are often surprised by the length of their surgical wound immediately post-surgery; many have expressed confusion about the length of the wound relative to the much smaller targeted lesion.~Our research study will utilize image-based education prior to patients' first dermatologic surgery to determine whether this intervention helps patients feel more satisfied with their wound appearance immediately post-surgery. Our primary hypothesis is that patients who are undergoing dermatologic surgery for the first time will benefit from image-based education about the surgical wound closure process. We hypothesize that a greater proportion of such patients would feel more satisfied and less distressed with the cosmetic outcomes immediately after their surgery relative to patients who did not receive image-based education.~If this hypothesis is found to be true, we will conclude that there is a need for better patient education prior to their dermatologic surgery procedure. We hope that this study will create a framework for sharing educational resources with patients so that they may set expectations as to surgical outcomes. These findings may also be relevant to other surgical procedures where patient satisfaction would be improved by the implementation of pre-operative education.
This research study aims to understand whether visual and written education on wound appearance can improve patients' experience and understanding of what their wound will look like following dermatologic surgery.