Don’t let patients be fooled by LASIK misinformation on TikTok
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Since its inception in 1989, LASIK has been at the top of the list in our armamentarium of refractive surgeries.
Patients who have undergone this elective procedure report excellent safety and satisfaction results (Eydelman et al). Despite these results, there has been a recent uptick in anti-LASIK content on social media.
Many of these videos are produced by nonprofessionals and may contain anecdotal “fearmongering” stories or give the impression that a rare complication is commonplace. This can create negative misconceptions of LASIK and cause your patients to make medical decisions based on incorrect or misleading information.
So how do we, as health care providers, combat this trend?
Address patient concerns
First, it’s important to understand that more and more patients are obtaining health information online — up to 75% to 80% (Sampige et al). Unfortunately, much of this information is not regulated, greatly increasing the risk that your patients will be exposed to misinformation on their social media platforms.
Patients may present to your office with questions, concerns or even outright fear about LASIK, despite its tried-and-true history. Take their concerns seriously. Use this opportunity to start a candid conversation with patients regarding the risks and benefits of refractive surgery. Do not argue or talk down to them; rather take an open, accepting approach to their questions. Validate their feelings while concurrently providing medically accurate information.
Steer them in the right direction
Second, educate patients on where to find credible information from professionals. This may be by providing an educational handout that your office has created or one developed by a trusted surgical center or a national entity such as the American Optometric Association or American Academy of Optometry and/or Ophthalmology.
Potentially even more helpful would be to educate your patients on how to identify quality content. They should check the creator’s credentials, look for scientific evidence, crosscheck the content, watch for red-flag words and look for a financial incentive.
Encourage your patients to follow credentialed experts and content creators. By doing this, their algorithms will trend toward medically accurate content rather than questionable information from unreliable sources.
A recent initiative between WHO and TikTok seeks to improve health literacy and provide accurate health information through the organization’s TikTok account. In 2020, WHO also joined forces with health care professionals active on social media to build an online network of trusted voices called Fides, which aims to counteract the spread of health-related misinformation and empower the public to make informed, evidence-based decisions about their health.
Get in the game
Lastly, consider joining the fray and becoming active on social media. This can help swing the pendulum away from misinformation and toward quality online health information.
A study published in 2023 evaluated educational content vs. misinformation in 723 ophthalmology videos on TikTok. Overall, 55% of these videos were created by non-health care providers, and only 35.1% by eye care providers specifically. Further, 74.4% of the videos contained misinformation, and 87.2% of these videos were created by non-health care providers (Sampige et al).
Another study published in May 2024 looked at the content, quality and reach of the top 100 LASIK-related videos on TikTok, which had garnered 245 million views and 21.9 million likes. About a third of the content was created by professionals, including ophthalmologists, optometrists, non-ophthalmology/optometry physicians and organizations or companies (Haddad et al). There was more misinformation contained within the nonprofessionally created content, but it wasn’t uncommon to see more interactions with these videos.
If you are frustrated by the type of content you or your patients are seeing online, consider creating professional, informative and fun videos to share. You can use a trending misconception as a jumping-off point to provide approachable and accurate medical information. Increased professional engagement on social media platforms will help counteract rampant misinformation.
We have entered a new era of information distribution, and regulations monitoring the accuracy of this information have yet to catch up. As health care providers, it’s important to know where patients obtain their health care information, while also understanding the current drawbacks of these platforms.
You can help guide your patients toward higher quality online content or even consider creating excellent content yourself. Remember, you can positively influence your patients behind a ring light as well as a slit lamp.
References:
- Eydelman M, et al. JAMA Ophthalmol. 2017;doi:10.1001/jamaophthalmol.2016.4587.
- Haddad FF, et al. J Ophthalmol. 2024;doi:10.1155/2024/8810500.
- How to fact-check health information on social media. https://health.usnews.com/wellness/articles/how-to-fact-check-health-information-on-social-media. Published Oct. 11, 2024. Accessed Dec. 5, 2024.
- Sampige R, et al. Ophthalmol Ther. 2023;doi:10.1007/s40123-023-00834-6.
For more information:
Abigail Neal, OD, FAAO, is clinic director at Pacific Cataract Institute in Auburn, Washington. She can be reached at abigail.neal@pcli.com.
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