Limitations
There are a number of limitations to this review. Steps were taken to find all relevant papers; however, there remains a potential to miss suitable articles and exclude certain research due to a lack of English translation. In addition, a secondary aim was to assess scars impact on QOL and body image. Factors such as psychological distress and poor QOL can have a negative impact on patient scar assessment scores, and more holistic scar questionnaires such as the Patient scar assessment questionnaire (PSAQ) appear to have a greater correlation with a patient’s body image. It is unfortunate that most studies only utilised visual analogue scales or simple dichotomous “patient satisfaction” questions; and none assessed the impact of scars on the patient’s mental health.