Decision factors and the recognition of medical specialty in patients receiving cosmetic laser and intense pulsed light treatment.

[BACKGROUND] In addition to dermatologists and plastic surgeons, physicians of other medical specialties also provide cosmetic laser and light treatment.

[OBJECTIVE] This study aimed to determine the major decision factors in patients who received cosmetic laser or intense pulsed light treatment and how they perceived different medical specialties in providing such services.

[METHODS] The method of factor analysis was adopted to extract the common characteristics (major decision factors) from a list of 17 items patients would regard as important when they planned to receive laser and intense pulsed light treatment. In addition, the level of recognition of different medical specialties in cosmetic patients was indirectly forecast using an analytic hierarchy process.

[RESULTS] Medical competence (0.3296) was the most important decision factor, followed by recommendation (0.2198), friendliness (0.1350), cost (0.1307), complete service (0.0984), and the physical attributes of the physician (0.0865). Dermatologists and plastic surgeons outscored cosmetic practitioners in five factors except for cost, in which the plastic surgeons were weakest.

[CONCLUSION] Medical competence and recommendation are the core issues for cosmetic patients. Dermatologists and plastic surgeons gain better overall recognition than physicians of other medical specialties in cosmetic patients.