Social Media Use and Impact on Plastic Surgery Practice

Sir: I read with interest the publication entitled “Social Media Use and Impact on Plastic Surgery Practice” by Vardanian et al.1 I would like to congratulate the authors on undertaking a comprehensive survey of the use of social media by members of the American Society of Plastic Surgeons and its impact on their clinical practice. In 2012, my colleagues and I published the results of a survey on the use of the Internet and Web 2.0 technology by plastic surgeons within the United Kingdom and Ireland. Social media allow users to create and exchange content by using Web 2.0 technology. In our survey, 356 members of the British Association of Plastic, Reconstructive and Aesthetic Surgeons were contacted.2 Although our response rate was disappointing at 26 percent, it was greater than that of Vardanian et al., which was only 9.7 percent. Our survey showed that 37.9 percent of the members of the British Association of Plastic, Reconstructive and Aesthetic Surgeons did not know what Web 2.0 technology is. We demonstrated that plastic surgeons used various aspects of social media: 36.2 percent used social networking (including Facebook, MySpace, and Twitter), 39.7 percent used media sharing (e.g., YouTube), 41.3 percent read or wrote a Web blog, and 1.7 percent contributed to a wiki. Figure 1 compares our data to those of Vardanian et al. and shows that more plastic surgeons in our survey use media sharing, Web blog, and wiki, but fewer use social networking than those in the survey by Vardanian et al. Furthermore, our survey demonstrated that 53.4 percent would like Web 2.0 technology to be used in the national e-learning project being developed by the British Association of Plastic, Reconstructive and Aesthetic Surgeons (e-learning in Plastic, Reconstructive and Aesthetic Surgeons), whereas 8.6 percent would not.2Fig. 1: Comparison of surveys of plastic surgeons using social networking (Facebook, MySpace, and Twitter), media sharing (YouTube), Web blog, and wiki. (Data from Vardanian AJ, Kusnezov N, Im DD, Lee JC, Jarrahy R. Social media use and impact on plastic surgery practice. Plast Reconstr Surg. 2013;131:1184–1193; and Stevens RJG, Hamilton NM, O’Donoghue JM, Davies MP. The use of the Internet and social software by plastic surgeons. Eur J Plast Surg. 2012;35:747–755.)It is interesting to note that Vardanian et al. reported that 1.5 percent of plastic surgeons experienced negative repercussions from their use of social media and that 31.2 percent had limited their use of social media because of concerns surrounding patient confidentiality.1 In the United Kingdom, where medical practice is ultimately regulated by the General Medical Council, professional guidance has been provided by the General Medical Council on the careful and appropriate use of social networking by physicians.3 I appreciate that the focus of the publication was the impact of social media on clinical practice rather than education. However, social media are a potentially powerful means of integrating and enhancing education, and may have a particularly useful role in e-learning within plastic surgery.2 DISCLOSURE The author has no financial interest to declare in relation to the content of this communication. Roger J. G. Stevens, M.Sc., D.I.C., M.R.C.S.(Eng.) Department of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery Polwarth Building University of Aberdeen Foresterhill Aberdeen, Scotland, United Kingdom [email protected]