Patients' and Surgeons' Perceptions of Social Media's Role in the Decision Making for Primary Aesthetic Breast Augmentation

Social media (SoMe) has evolved to be a platform that patients use to seek information prior to an operation, share perioperative and postoperative journey, provide feedback, offer and receive support. While there have been studies looking at the evolution and usage of SoMe either by patients or by surgeons, there is no information that compares its usefulness for both the groups.

The aim of this study was to compare the views held by patients and surgeons, towards social media and other internet resources, in relation to one commonly performed operation.

A questionnaire was presented to 648 consecutive patients who attended our clinic for consultation for primary breast augmentation from September 2016 to March 2017. A separate "surgeons' questionnaire" was answered by a group of 138 plastic surgeons who were either practicing in branches of our clinic, had previously done fellowship with us, or were visiting the clinic.

All 138 surgeons and 648 patients responded to the questionnaire. A total of 91.4% of patients said that they had searched online and 61.4% had searched in specific online groups for information on breast augmentation. A total of 88.9% of patients had specifically looked for clinical photographs and 73.4% had specifically searched for unfavorable reviews of the surgeon. In comparison, 72.5% of surgeons thought that over three quarters of patients gather information on the internet while only 20.3% thought that over three quarters of patients use social media for their information. A total of 52.5% of surgeons have noticed that social media affected their consultations.

With the evolution of the internet and related technologies, the role of social media continues to increase. While patients use social media to help make their decisions, it is not the only deciding factor. Surgeons appear to underestimate the patients' use of these technologies. There is concern in each group about the amount of inaccurate information on the social media. This underlines the importance of providing factual, evidence-based information to the patients.