Presentations

Abstract

Introduction: Countless physicians have shifted to social media platforms like TikTok to showcase their work through engaging content.1 This study contrasts plastic surgeons popular on TikTok (Influencers, over 99,999 followers) and plastic surgeons who use TikTok without a large following (Casuals, 10,000 to 99,999 followers) based on the videos they choose to highlight for their audiences.

Methods: Potential accounts were identified with search terms like "plastic surgeons of TikTok", applying exclusion criteria: residency programs, organizations, unrelated specialties, practicing outside of the U.S., and less than 10,000 followers. Highlight playlists were recorded from a holistic review of included accounts, separating them into eight categories. Statistical analyses were performed using Jamovi software.

Results: Fifty-eight Casuals and forty-four Influencers were included, totaling 298 highlight playlists. Thirty five Influencers and nineteen Casuals had no highlights at all. Influencers and Casuals had an average number of highlights of 3.27 and 2.67 (Mann-Whitney U p < 0.095) respectively. Only Entertainment and Before & After highlights are significantly associated with Influencer status. No categories are significantly associated with Casual status.

Conclusion: The lack of statistical significance between Influencers and Casuals suggests they are similar in how many highlights they produce. However, some highlight video categories are associated with Influencer status, insinuating the quantity of highlights does not outweigh the importance of the content that is being highlighted. This is supported by the increased number of Influencers without highlights at all compared to Casuals.