Clients’ demand for non-invasive and mini-invasive aesthetic procedures as a fast and efficient alternative of the aesthetic surgery is expanding. Health-related quality of life (HRQoL) is increasingly used in aesthetic medicine to quantify the patients’ health experience related to aesthetic procedures applied. The objective of the study was to assess the HRQoL of patients before and after the performance of aesthetic non-invasive or mini-invasive procedures in outpatient settings. A prospective multicentric study was conducted in 6 outpatient clinics of aesthetic medicine in Bulgaria over a period of 14 months, with 480 participants involved. Data on demographic and social characteristics, self-rated health, depressive mood and some other variables were collected by a self-administered survey. HRQol was measured before and after the aesthetic procedures by an adapted instrument based on standardized Bulgarian version of Sckindex29. After the completion of the aesthetic treatment protocol, HRQoL improved significantly in the three domains with the highest enhancement in the Emotions and Functioning scales. The positive change of the initial score for the Emotions scale was 35.32% and the total score of HRQoL improved by 30.34% as a result of the aesthetic procedures. The post-treatment improvement of HRQOL remained after controlling for the effect of sex, age, education, marital and social status, self-rated health and depression. Measuring HRQoL in non-surgical aesthetic practice has to be introduced as a regular assessment procedure. It will help to manage effectively the comprehensive process of aesthetic treatment and care, taking into account the patient perspective.
