Dermatologists take to TikTok
Some dermatologists have started their own TikTok accounts, seeking both to counteract misinformation and provide education.
Dr. Shah has become one of the top influencers on the platform. In a year-end wrap, TikTok put Dr. Shah at No. 7 on its top creators list for 2021.
MDedge
Dr. Muneeb Shah, shown in the photos on the tablet's screen, is one of the top "skinfluencers" on TikTok.
The dermatology resident said that TikTok is a good tool for reaching patients who might not otherwise interact with dermatologists. He recounted the story of an individual who came into his office with the idea that they had hidradenitis suppurativa.
The person had self-diagnosed after seeing one of Dr. Shah’s TikTok videos on the condition. It was a pleasant surprise, said Dr. Shah. People with hidradenitis suppurativa often avoid treatment, and it’s underdiagnosed and improperly treated, despite an American Academy of Dermatology awareness campaign.
“Dermatologists on social media are almost like the communications department for dermatology,” Dr. Shah commented.
A key to making TikTok work to advance dermatologists’ goals is knowing what makes it unique.
Dr. Lee said she prefers it to Instagram, because TikTok’s algorithms and its younger-skewing audience help her reach a more specific audience.
The algorithm “creates a positive feedback loop in which popular content creators or viral trends are prioritized on the users’ homepages, in turn providing the creators of these videos with an even larger audience,” Mr. Zheng, of University Hospitals Cleveland Medical Center, and coauthors noted in their letter in the Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology.
TikTok also celebrates the everyday – someone doesn’t have to be a celebrity to make something go viral, said Dr. Lee. She believes that TikTok users are more accepting of average people with real problems – which helps when someone is TikTokking about a skin condition.
Dr. Doris Day
Doris Day, MD, who goes by @drdorisday on TikTok, agreed with Dr. Lee. “There are so many creative ways you can convey information with it that’s different than what you have on Instagram,” said Dr. Day, who is in private practice in New York. And, she added, “it does really lend itself to getting points out super-fast.”
Dermatologists on TikTok also said they like the “duets” and the “stitch” features, which allow users to add on to an existing video, essentially chiming in or responding to what might have already been posted, in a side-by-side format.
Dr. Shah said he often duets videos that have questionable content. “It allows me to directly respond to people. A lot of times, if something is going really viral and it’s not accurate, you’ll have a response from me or one of the other doctors” within hours or days.
Dr. Shah’s duets are labeled with “DermDoctor Reacts” or “DermDoctor Explains.” In one duet, with more than 2.8 million views, the upper half of the video is someone squeezing a blackhead, while Dr. Shah, in the bottom half, in green scrubs, opines over some hip-hop music: “This is just a blackhead. But once it gets to this point, they do need to be extracted because topical treatments won’t help.”
Dr. Muneeb Shah
Dr. Lee – whose TikTok and other accounts capitalize on teens’ obsession with popping pimples – has a duet in which she advised that although popping will leave scars, there are more ideal times to pop, if they must. The duet has at least 21 million views.
Sometimes a TikTok video effectively takes on a trend without being a duet. Nurse practitioner Uy Dam (@uy.np) has a video that demonstrates the dangers of hyaluron pens. He uses both a pen and a needle to inject fluid into a block of jello. The pen delivers a scattershot load of differing depths, while the needle is exact. It’s visual and easy to understand and has at least 1.3 million views.
Still, TikTok, like other forms of social media, is full of misinformation and false accounts, including people who claim to be doctors. “It’s hard for the regular person, myself included, sometimes to be able to root through that and find out whether something is real or not,” said Dr. Lee.
Dr. Friedman said he’s concerned about the lack of accountability. A doctor could lose his or her license for promoting unproven cures, especially if they are harmful. But for influencers, “there’s no accountability for posting information that can actually hurt people.”