Prejuvenation: What Social Media Tells Us About the Rising Trend

"Prejuvenation," a practice gaining enormous popularity among younger adults, can largely attribute its explosive growth to TikTok, the platform on which many first encounter this trend. Despite the rising usage of prejuvenation, however, there is a lack of clarity regarding its clinical practice and efficacy.

To investigate the understandability, reliability, and actionability of prejuvenation-related TikTok content.

TikTok was queried using 13 hashtags consisting of popular colloquial terms associated with prejuvenation treatments, and the top 25 videos meeting inclusion criteria for each hashtag were analyzed. For each video, poster credentials and video type were determined. Videos considered "educational" were analyzed using the validated modified DISCERN score and the Patient Education Materials Assessment Tool scales. Creator's prejuvenation recommendations were recorded. Univariate and linear regression models were utilized for analysis.

A total of 303 videos amassed over 61,000,000 million views, 3,957,091 likes, 24,455 comments, and 71,697 shares. Nonphysicians posted the most videos (n = 257, 84.8%) and had significantly higher median views, likes, comments, and engagement than physician videos. Analysis of "educational" videos showed that most videos (50, 67%) supported the use of prejuvenation treatments, 18 (24%) were neutral, and 6 (8%) were opposed.

Prejuvenation content on TikTok varies widely in terms of quality and recommendations, calling for more standardization regarding the practice. Physician-generated prejuvenation content was more reliable, but distinguishing it from nonphysician content was challenging, underscoring the need for platform-specific verification tools.