It is not rare, old patients asking for better aesthetic results on multi-operated bodies causing anxiety and inconvenience. Objectives of our study is to present the emotional confrontation of patients towards surgery.

We present 4 cases of interest.

A 75-year-old woman with abdominal asymmetry due to lose abdominal walls and prior operations underwent a failed operation because of her own persistence and finally was convinced to stop asking new surgery when she was told that her abdomen would never become symmetrical. A 79- year-old man, keen on parachuting, was interested to improve his sexual performance and tighten his lose skin with a re-operation on his well done hernia operation. A married man of 50-years-old with a temporary colostomy due to ruptured sigmoid colon suffering from acute diverticulitis, two months later was not at all interested in any kind of aesthetic improvement or his sexual life, and his only care was his nutrition and the avoidance of infections. A divorced man of 49-years-old, with a permanent colostomy, due to familial adenomatous polyposis and cancer occurrence on the site of his old operation (prior total colectomy in 1995), not even one time referred to sexual functioning or aesthetic problems, while his constant problem was to take care of his colostomy by himself.

Old age does not mean loss of interest for body icon and sexuality. On the other hand middle-aged men seem to be more practical and less emotional than old patients.

The authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.