The Utilization of YouTube as a Resource on Hair Loss Treatments
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LETTER TO THE EDITOR
The Utilization of YouTube as a Resource on Hair Loss Treatments Sara Behbahani1 • Brittany Ward1 • Margaret Montovano1 • Britney N. Wilson1 Vaishali Ravikumar1 • Katrice Karanfilian1 • Boris Paskhover2
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Received: 27 March 2020 / Accepted: 20 May 2020 Ó Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature and International Society of Aesthetic Plastic Surgery 2020
Abstract Introduction To the best of our knowledge, no previous studies have evaluated the quality of videos discussing hair loss treatments Methods YouTube was searched on December 10, 2019, using the relevance and view count filters for the following search terms: hair loss treatment, baldness, alopecia, male pattern baldness, and female pattern baldness. The DISCERN criterion for assessing consumer health information was used to evaluate each video. A score of 1 indicates a low overall video quality, whereas a 5 indicates a highquality source of information for patients. The DISCERN treatment assessment is a validated tool to assess the quality of patient information about treatment choices. Two-sample t tests and Mann–Whitney U tests were used to determine significance. Results We analyzed 90 videos receiving a total of 108,240,496 views with a mean view count of 1,202,672 views per video (Table 1). Pharmaceuticals including minoxidil and finasteride were the most commonly mentioned treatment (30% of videos) followed by nutraceuticals (20%). YouTube influencers (Table 2) represented 37.8% of authors followed by companies/advertisers (15.6%). Seventeen videos (18.9%) included board-certified dermatologists. The mean DS overall was 2.66, and the mean DS for bias was 2.98.
& Sara Behbahani [email protected] 1
Rutgers New Jersey Medical School, 185 South Orange Avenue, Newark, NJ 07101, USA
2
Department of Otolaryngology, Rutgers New Jersey Medical School, 90 Bergen St, Newark, NJ 07101, USA
Discussion Our data demonstrate the extensive use of YouTube for hair loss treatment information. While YouTube can be a valuable resource for patients, videos are often biased and can misinform patients. Moreover, the lack of a central review process or governing body to validate claims made in videos can be a safety concern. EBM Level V This journal requires that authors assign a level of evidence to each article. For a full description of these Evidence-Based Medicine ratings, please refer to the Table of Contents or the online Instructions to Authors www.springer.com/00266. Keywords YouTube Hair loss treatment Baldness Alopecia Male pattern baldness Female pattern baldness
Introduction Hair loss affects millions of Americans and can be a significant stressor on patients and their quality of life. In the USA, more than 3.5 billion dollars are spent annually on hair loss treatments [1]. With so many treatments on the market, many patients have difficulty finding the right treatment option and are increasingly utilizing YouTube as a resource for treatment information. Videos documenting patient experiences and
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