We Are Our Own Severe Critic – Study Conducted by University of Pennsylvania

New evidence emerged through a study conducted by the University of Pennsylvania to support the fact that we are often more critical of ourselves than each other when it comes to appearance.

This study especially focused on facial scars surveying 81 patients who had gotten Mohs micrographic surgery which is a uniquely updated and precise form of surgery to heal skin cancer on the face.

This surgery removes visible cancer and also removes the small number of tissues that are in its surrounding. Mohs is a more exact form of surgery as compared to others. It is a holistic surgery that removes away the thin layers of skin that have been affected by cancer. The surgery continues to firmly remove all the scars until the skin becomes cancer-free. The ultimate objective during the whole process is to reduce the damage to the surrounding tissues while removing all the cancerous skin. It is generally used on the specific areas of the skin which are important for one to keep them as safe and clean as possible like the face, hands, feet, and genitals.

You may also read: Businesswomen With Vision and Inspiration

Three months later, Surgeons and their patients rated the facial scars one or two after Mohs Surgery. After completely securing the privacy of the patients as researchers are bound not to disclose the identity of the patients to anyone, researchers showed to physicians and twelve medical students who had no relationships to the patients either professionally or personally.

In the first set of photos after the surgery, the facial scars were “largely visible” said Sobanko. “it can worrying for the patient.” At that point perception about scares of each was quite different. The patients were too critical of their appearance and gave the lowest ratings of the three groups, feeling that their scars were still visible and they looked unattractive. On the other, the ratings the surgeons gave to the photos were far higher than the ones the students gave.

The scars had healed more after three months of the surgery. At this point, patients were much happier to see the way scars looked on their faces. This time the overall response was about 40% higher. This time again there was much difference between the ranking of patients and surgeons. Compared with the ranking of the patients, surgeons’ ranking was much higher. Both accepted the betterment in the sense of the absence of the scars but surgeons considered more betterment than the patients did.

“Our research seems to be accepting the saying, ‘it is we who are our own worst critics,” the research senior author Dr. Joseph F. Subanko said while talking to Penn’s news outlet. “There is a higher probability that patients are more likely to see the scares on their faces than their surgeons and the passing by strangers in the street.”