Investigation of the Relationship Between Health Literacy and Surgical Acceptance in Aesthetic Surgery Patients

In this cross-sectional study, we evaluated the relationship between health literacy and acceptance of cosmetic surgery using the Turkish Health Literacy Scale-32 and the Acceptance of Cosmetic Surgery Scale. The mean age of the 379 patients included in the study was 31.19 ± 7.02 years. A total of 61.7% (n = 234) of the participants had a history of cosmetic surgery. The most common aesthetic surgery was performed on the face, and the most preferred type of surgical intervention was rhinoplasty. Patients stated that they primarily obtained information about plastic surgery from social media and the internet. We found a strong statistically significant positive correlation between the two scales (r = 0.757; p < .001). We found statistically significantly different scale scores based on the patients' education (p < .001) and income levels (p < .05). Patients with a history of plastic surgery had statistically significant higher acceptance levels (p = .003). There is a need for education and counseling services to increase the health literacy of plastic surgery patients and support them in making informed decisions.