While social media is a popular tool to disseminate dermatologic information, the informational quality of the available retinol content has not been assessed. We conducted a cross-sectional study by querying for Instagram posts about retinol on January 24th, 2023, and analyzed ninety-seven posts using the DISCERN metric, a validated instrument for judging the quality of written consumer health information. The majority of assessed posts had a DISCERN score under 2 (out of 5), with an average score of 1.27/5 (SD of 0.56). This study highlights the lack of high-quality information on the topic of retinol on Instagram and the importance of consumer caution when seeking information online.
Toan Nguyen (Wed,) studied this question.