Public Interest in Cosmetic Surgical and Minimally Invasive Plastic Procedures During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Infodemiology Study of Twitter Data

Abstract

Background The unprecedented COVID-19 pandemic has brought drastic changes to the field of plastic surgery. It is critical for stakeholders in this field to identify the changes in public interest in plastic procedures to be adequately prepared to meet the challenges of the pandemic. Objective The aim of this study is to examine tweets related to the public interest in plastic procedures during the COVID-19 pandemic and to help stakeholders in the field of plastic surgery adjust their practices and sustain their operations during the current difficult situation of the pandemic. Methods Using a web crawler, 73,963 publicly accessible tweets about the most common cosmetic surgical and minimally invasive plastic procedures were collected. The tweets were grouped into three phases, and the tweeting frequencies and Google Trends indices were examined. Tweeting frequency, sentiment, and word frequency analyses were performed with Python modules. Results Tweeting frequency increased by 24.0% in phase 2 and decreased by 9.1% in phase 3. Tweets about breast augmentation, liposuction, and abdominoplasty (“tummy tuck”) procedures consecutively increased over the three phases of the pandemic. Interest in Botox and chemical peel procedures revived first when the lockdown was lifted. The COVID-19 pandemic was associated with a negative impact on public sentiment about plastic procedures. The word frequency pattern significantly changed after phase 1 and then remained relatively stable. Conclusions According to Twitter data, the public maintained their interest in plastic procedures during the COVID-19 pandemic. Stakeholders should consider refocusing on breast augmentation, liposuction, and abdominoplasty procedures during the current phase of the pandemic. In the case of a second wave of COVID-19, stakeholders should prepare for a temporary surge of Botox and chemical peel procedures.

Twitter Perspectives on Cochlear Implantation: Sentiment and Thematic Analysis

“…The mean sentiment score for all tweets within our dataset was 0.21 ± 0.46 indicating weakly positive overall sentiment. Similar studies analyzing the sentiment scores of tweets discussing plastic surgery found VADER sentiment scores ranging from −0.5 to 0.5 with averages clustering around 0, though the authors did not explicitly report mean sentiment scores 20 . Similarly Crocamo et al found that the average VADER sentiment scores of tweets about COVID‐19 was negative, and ranged from −0.05 to −0.16 in early 2020 21 .…”

“…Similar studies analyzing the sentiment scores of tweets discussing plastic surgery found VADER sentiment scores ranging from −0.5 to 0.5 with averages clustering around 0, though the authors did not explicitly report mean sentiment scores. 20 Similarly Crocamo et al found that the average VADER sentiment scores of tweets about COVID-19 was negative, and ranged from −0.05 to −0.16 in early 2020. 21 Lastly, Tang et al found that the average sentiment score for reviews of male and female spine surgeons was 0.44 and 0.35, respectively.…”

The COVID‐19 pandemic and its impact on esthetic dermatology

“… 3 However, social distancing had led people spend long hours on video calls, which promoted appearance dissatisfaction and sometimes evolution of dysmorphic thoughts about the body especially the face; this has resulted in increased demand in esthetic and cosmetic procedures. 4 , 5 On the other hand, the SARS‐CoV‐2 infection and associated vaccines have given rise to several dermatologic reactions in those individuals previously undergone cosmetic surgery or esthetic interventions. 6 , 7 , 8 Moreover, demand for improving physical and mental self‐acceptance usually increases after any disaster or crisis and COVID‐19 is not an exception.…”

A Multimetric Readability Analysis of Online Patient Educational Materials for Submental Fat Reduction

“…Online interest in cosmetic procedures, as illustrated with Google searches, have increased to levels higher than those prior to the pandemic. [ 3 – 5 ]…”

“…Online interest in cosmetic procedures, as illustrated with Google searches, have increased to levels higher than those prior to the pandemic. [3][4][5] With the growing influence of the Internet on patient decision-making, it is important for online patient educational materials to be written in a manner easily understood by the average patient. Health literacy is an important predictor of patient outcomes, given its association with greater patient compliance, decreased complication rates, and overall lower healthcare costs [6][7][8][9][10].…”