Standardized Terminology for Aesthetic Ophthalmic Plastic Surgery

Purpose: To determine whether existing Systemized Nomenclature of Medicine (SNOMED) terminology adequately describes aesthetic concepts commonly encountered in the oculoplastic and facial plastic surgery setting. Methods: This was a noncomparative case series. A panel of three oculoplastic surgeons compiled a list of unique concepts describing specialized aesthetic terminology commonly encountered in the oculoplastic and facial plastic surgery setting, with a specific focus on anatomic structures and descriptive findings. A standard electronic browser was used to manually search for the existence of equivalent matching concepts in SNOMED. A quality of match score from 1 to 3 was used with values of (1) no match, (2) partial match, and (3) equivalent match. Results: An assessment of the existing aesthetic terminology revealed that a majority of concepts were not represented. Of 62 total concepts, 68% had no match, 13% had a partial match, and 19% had a complete match. Conclusions: SNOMED coverage of aesthetic terminology was less than in previous studies examining content representation for other medical topics. Such findings underscore a need for further development and refinement of aesthetic content.

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