Comments on “Advertising on Social Media: The Plastic Surgeon’s Prerogative”

With social media best practices coming under review and consideration in the recent months,1 I wanted to provide an alternative point of view for consideration. I do think it is important to have recommendations and suggested guidelines put into place. I do hope that, at the same time, leadership is taking into consideration ways that we can use this platform to advance our collective mission statement. How can we use social media to educate the public with regards to procedures, board-certification, and adequate surgeon training? While putting out best practices, professional guidelines, and ethical boundaries, each surgeon will ultimately use their first amendment rights to project their persona however they wish on social media and their website. They may be rejected by the professional societies by doing as they please but I think that those surgeons coming under the most criticism are the ones with the most powerful and influential social media accounts. So instead of shunning these surgeons, perhaps first, we should consider how to use their power for good. How can we partner with them in a more collegial way to advance the mission statement? I know that many of our peers who did not like advertising in the yellow pages, then TV, then billboards, and now social media will disagree. But if we, the so-called experts, don’t get ourselves out there like the non-core physicians are, how will we stay relevant? How will we rise above the noise? If we turn our noses up at social media, we are going to become irrelevant and obsolete. The public consumes most of their information online and on mobile devices.2 They don’t want to read about surgical procedures; they want to watch them. I have read arguments that the surgeon will be distracted if filming while operating, or that sterility will be compromised. I have been to many American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS) and American Society of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons (ASAPS) sessions where the speaker will show their surgical technique in a video. Should those be restricted as well? I have read that surgical videos on social media are somehow degrading the sacredness of surgery. Should surgical videos then be removed from YouTube? Another concern is health insurance portability and accountability act (HIPAA) compliance. No high-profile plastic surgeon would post patient images without consent because that would put him or her at legal risk. As long as the patient has consented and viewed the media prior to posting, there should not be concerns about patient privacy by the societies other than to provide adequate consent forms as they have done for surgical procedures. I beg my colleagues to put aside their envy, resentment, competitiveness, and fear of the unknown, and wake up to reality. If we restrict board-certified plastic surgeons on social media, we will become obsolete. Focus on harnessing social media and our most powerful influencers to advance our collective goals: (1) public and patient education; and (2) Board certification and adequate training matters. In this age of public thirst for knowledge and transparency, if we don’t show these videos, we will become obsolete. The public will follow the accounts of non-core physicians who will show videos instead, and they will have the public attention which they can influence any way they like. The author declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and publication of this article. The author received no financial support for the research, authorship, and publication of this article.