BACKGROUND Cancer is a multifactorial disease and skin carcinomas are the most common
type of cancer. Assessing quality of life and self-esteem outcomes in skin
cancer patients is important because these are indicators of the results of
the treatment, translating how patients face their lives and their personal
relationships. OBJECTIVE To assess the late impact of the surgical treatment of head and/or neck skin
carcinomas on quality of life and self-esteem of the patients. METHODS Fifty patients with head or neck skin carcinomas were enrolled. Their age
ranged between 30 and 75 years, 27 were men and 23 were women. Patients were
assessed with regard to quality of life and self-esteem, preoperatively and
five years postoperatively. Validated instruments were used: the MOS 36-item
Short-form Health Survey (SF-36) and the Rosenberg Self-esteem/EPM-UNIFESP
Scale. The Wilcoxon signed-rank test was used for the statistical analysis.
RESULTS Twenty-two patients completed the five-year follow-up, 54.5% women and 45.5%
men. Compared to the preoperative assessment, patients had an improvement in
mental health (p=0.011) and in self-esteem (p=0.002). There was no
statistical difference with regard to the other domains of the SF-36. CONCLUSION Patients submitted to surgical treatment of skin carcinoma improved mental
health and self-esteem in the late postsurgical testing.
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