Judgment about the outcome of plastic surgery, whether reconstruction or cosmetology, depends on the beautification of body image, which is difficult to be measured with physical parameters. How to exactly understand patients' perception and make correct medical decisions are everyday work of plastic surgeons. Hence patient reported outcome measures (PROMs) are particularly important. In this paper, the author briefly described the development of PROMs, and introduced their application in plastic surgery, so as to provide reference for clinical research.