All I Have Learned, I Have Learned from Google: Why Today's Facial Rejuvenation Patients are Prone to Misinformation, and the Steps We can take to Contend with Unreliable Information

Abstract

A growing number of patients are seeking answers for their health concerns online. This study assesses the reliability, quality, and readability of online materials patients have access to through the Internet and evaluates the social media presence of information providers. An online search was conducted for facial rejuvenation by utilizing three ubiquitously used web search engines: Google, Bing, and Yahoo. The first 25 result pages were collected from each search engine, and exclusionary criteria were applied to exclude online stores and advertisements. Website reliability and quality were assessed via the DISCERN method. Readability was measured through six measurements: Flesch–Kincaid Grade Level (FKGL), Gunning Fox score, SMOG index, Coleman Liau index, and automated readability index. Social media presence and profile followers on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram were determined to gauge social media presence. Exclusionary criteria yielded 41 unique websites, with the majority of websites authored by physicians (54%) followed by professional organizations (19%). The DISCERN method demonstrated that journal websites yielded the highest overall quality (4.00) and physician websites yielded the lowest (2.72). Readability analysis demonstrated that online forums proved the most challenging to read, and encyclopedia articles were the least challenging. Physician websites maintained the highest social media presence (95%) followed by professional organizations (75%). However, professional organizations had more social media followers in comparison to physician websites. Physician websites and professional organizations overwhelmingly command social media presence compared to other information providers and provide information with serious deficits in reliability and quality. A strong majority of online information also surpasses the health care literacy of patients. This poses a serious concern for physicians who need to provide and guide patients to high quality and reliable information.

Health Literacy in Plastic Surgery: A Scoping Review

“…Database search and review of article references revealed 46 eligible articles for inclusion in this scoping review (Table 1). 8,10–54 These articles represented the spectrum of plastic surgery, including breast (22%), facial aesthetics (17%), general plastic surgery (13%), hand surgery (15%), f (9%), craniofacial (9%), lymphedema (7%), gender affirmation surgery (4%), lower extremity reconstruction (2%), and vascularized composite allotransplantation (2%) (Fig. 2).…”

“…In this scoping review, the 36 articles that assessed the readability of plastic surgery internet-based resources utilizing these tools demonstrated a mean reading grade level consistently higher than the eighth grade, regardless of the sub topic analyzed (Table 2). 8,10–44…”

Information Literacy of Nurses in Shaanxi Province, China: A Cross-sectional Descriptive and Multicentre Survey

“…With the development of evidence-based nursing which has higher requirements for literature index and retrieval [45], it is necessary for nurses to master good literature retrieval ability to carry out evidence-based nursing in clinical work [22]. Application of information index is one of the important ability of nurses' information literacy, through which nurses can learn the latest frontier dynamic knowledge in professional eld [46,47]. Therefore, nurses themselves should strengthen professional learning and skills development, and constantly improve the level of information literacy.…”

Health Literacy in Oculofacial Plastic Surgery: A Literature Review

“…While some online resources are reliable and serve to empower patients, intermixed among them are concepts that are inaccurate, outdated, or unrealistic [ 2 , 4 , 5 ]. Recognizing dependable resources and deciphering complex medical information can be challenging, particularly in patients with limited health literacy (HL) [ 6 ]. HL represents the ability to comprehend health information and utilize it to make appropriate medical decisions [ 7 ].…”

“…PEMs above the ninth-grade level are considered difficult to read for an average adult [ 11 , 12 ]. Several studies in the current literature concluded that online plastic surgery PEMs are of low quality and written at unacceptably high reading levels [ 6 , 13 , 14 ]. Research investigating the quality and readability of PEMs specific to the field of oculofacial plastic surgery is sparse.…”