Cost of dermatology care drives some to choose social media-endorsed treatments

Key takeaways:

• Cost was the highest barrier to dermatologic care, leading university-age students to seek skin-related health information on social media.
• Social media-influenced skin treatments can cause adverse events.

SAN DIEGO — Survey data from university-age students showed that cost was the highest barrier to dermatologic care, prompting use of at-home treatments, according to a poster presented at the American Academy of Dermatology Annual Meeting.

“Social media has become a common place to share dermatology health care information,” Dorothea McGowan, MS, medical student at Michigan State University, and colleagues wrote.

Although some board-certified dermatologists have been using social media to combat the spread of misinformation, they are still only “minor contributors of the dermatology-related content on social media,” the researchers added.

To determine the influence social media has on dermatological self-treatment practices and the adverse reactions associated with social media-influenced “at-home” treatments, researchers sent a Qualtrics survey to 1,000 Michigan State University students aged 18 years and older.

Overall, 416 participants specified using TikTok for skin-related health information. The second most-used social media platform was Instagram, chosen by 307 participants.

The most common dermatological conditions people sought to treat with social media-influenced treatments were acne and pimples (n = 416), followed by dry skin (n = 293).

Researchers asked participants to rank reasons why they would use social media-influenced treatments rather than seek care from a dermatologist — including cost, appointment availability, location and stigma — from one to four, with one being the biggest factor.

Results showed cost (mean, 1.57; standard deviation [SD], 0.89) was the most significant factor in using skin treatments or remedies from social media instead of seeing a dermatologist, followed by appointment availability (mean, 2.47; SD, 0.94).

Researchers also found that the most common adverse reactions experienced from social media treatments were redness (n = 91) and dryness (n = 71).

“Adverse reactions to social media influenced dermatological ‘at-home’ treatments are present and more research is needed to understand the complexities of at-home dermatological self-treatment practices,” the researchers wrote.