Global skin diseases on Instagram hashtags

Recently named one of the most influential phone applications, Instagram continues to grow in popularity [1]. Instagram consists of images and video posts, making it ideal for education and communication within the visual field of dermatology. In this study, we seek to determine the presence of dermatology-related content with regard to the most common cutaneous diseases of the world. We searched the account types and hashtags associated with the eight most common skin diseases globally as identified by the Global Burden of Disease (GBD) study by Hollenstein et al.: eczema, psoriasis, acne,pruritus, alopecia, decubitus ulcer, urticaria, andscabies [9]. The majority of Instagram accounts included patient experiences (n=73), private accounts(n=52), and disease advocacy and awareness groups(n=20), (total n=221). We further investigated over 2 million skin disease hashtags. The greatest numbersof hashtags were the following: #acne (n = 1,622,626),#alopecia (n = 317,566), and #eczema (n = 196,115). Our results demonstrate that patients interact withone another through Instagram. As social networking platforms become more frequently used as a source of information for patients and patient support, medical professionals must gain awareness of content available through Instagram and consider it as a means to educate the public.