Plastic Surgeons Are Underrepresented on Hospital Websites When Searching for Facial Aesthetics Procedures

Hospital websites play a key role when patients seek specialist care. Patients may become overwhelmed with the number of search results generated by hospital websites when looking for facial aesthetics procedures. This study characterizes plastic surgeons' representation on major hospital system websites in the United States for facial aesthetic procedures.

The "find a doctor" tool on the top 20 US hospitals, as described in the US News and World Report's Hospital Rankings 2020-2021, was queried for 6 facial aesthetic procedures: rhinoplasty, facial rejuvenation, face lift, neck lift, blepharoplasty, and brow lift. Physician information such as their sex, medical specialty, medical school location, and residency program was recorded.

Our study revealed 1189 healthcare professionals, with 1077 being physicians. Plastic surgeons were consistently underrepresented in the results for each of the six search terms. The search term "blepharoplasty" produced the greatest number of plastic surgeons (44%), whereas the term "facial rejuvenation" produced the lowest number of plastic surgeons (32%). Nonsurgeons represented 6% of queries.

This study highlights the underrepresentation of plastic surgeons on hospital websites when searching for common facial aesthetic procedures. Factors such as the prevalence of procedures performed outside of hospitals, overlapping procedural privileges, and search engine inaccuracies may contribute to this issue. Patients may face challenges locating a plastic surgeon and could benefit from more streamlined guidance when using hospital websites.