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.