The results of a cross-sectional study suggest that social media empowers plastic surgery patients.
The study, accepted April 24, 2023 and published in April 2024 in the journal Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery concluded:
Social media use appears to have a positive impact on PRS patient empowerment, which may reflect better patient decision-making and autonomy when consulting with their plastic surgeon.
“Our study suggests that connecting to social media is associated with meaningful increases in empowerment for PRS patients, and may have positive effects on patient-centered decision-making.”
Samuel J. Lin, MD, MBA, ASPS Member Surgeon of Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Harvard Medical School, Boston
Researchers from Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Harvard Medical School surveyed 473 patients online from May 18 to May 31, 2022.
Roughly ¾ of those surveyed said they sought out plastic surgery information online at some point during their surgical process.
Patients who got information online “had higher scores for patient empowerment,” in 6 out of 7 empowerment categories, the American Society of Plastic Surgeons noted in a release.
Use of Facebook and RealSelf were both associated with higher score in certain patient empowerment categories, including decision to consult, questions during consultation and awareness of other treatment options.
While this study concluded social media can empower plastic surgery patients, others have found otherwise, or suggested nuance to be considered.
In discussing a series of studies on breast implant illness in Oct. 2022, Dr. Caroline Glicksman said the patient cohort who believed they had breast implant illness received 66 percent of their medical information from social media, while the cohort that didn’t consider they had breast implant illness [and yet had their implants removed] received less than 10 percent of their medical information from social media.
Other surgeons have also publicly cautioned against aspects of patient social media support groups in particular.