nd the underlying psychologic problem has a name: body dysmorphic disorder, or BDD, a condition that can lead to a cosmetic surgery addiction. A person with BDD may be preoccupied with a slight, or even an imagined, defect, usually in a facial feature. Focusing on the “defect” becomes obsessive and seriously disrupts daily activities and responsibilities. In fact, one study suggests that as many as one-third of nose-job patients have symptoms of BDD.
People with body dysmorphic disorder may spend hours every day trying to hide their displeasing physical features with makeup, clothing, or accessories, or even try some form of do-it-yourself “surgery” to disguise the feature. People with BDD also have unusually high suicide attempt rates.
Patients with this disorder are unlikely to be satisfied with the results of cosmetic surgery, and some people have even attempted to take out their frustration on their plastic surgeon.