Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2021 Jan;38(1):336-338.
doi: 10.1111/pde.14471. Epub 2020 Nov 28.

Acne and social media: A cross-sectional study of content quality on TikTok

David X Zheng  1 , Anne Y Ning  1 , Melissa A Levoska  2 , Laura Xiang  1 , Christina Wong  2 , Jeffrey F Scott  3
Affiliations

Acne and social media: A cross-sectional study of content quality on TikTok

David X Zheng et al. Pediatr Dermatol. 2021 Jan.

Abstract

Our objective was to assess the quality of acne-related medical information present on TikTok, the world's fastest growing social media platform. We queried the TikTok mobile application for videos tagged with "#acne" on May 1, 2020, and assessed the top 100 videos meeting inclusion criteria for content quality using DISCERN, a validated and reliable instrument for evaluating consumer health information. The mean content quality rating of videos was 2.03 (SD 0.47) which, according to the DISCERN instrument, indicates information with serious to potentially important shortcomings. Dermatologists should be aware that adolescents are using TikTok to gather acne-related information, and should prioritize acne education in this patient demographic due to the generally low content quality of such information.

Keywords: TikTok; TikTok and acne treatment; acne treatment; acne vulgaris.

PubMed Disclaimer

References

REFERENCES

    1. Sierro TJ, Young PM, Kassabian SK, Wu KK, Armstrong AW. Dermatologists in social media: A study on top influencers, posts, and user engagement. J Am Acad Dermatol. 2020;83(5):1452-1455.
    1. Flora L.TikTok’s skinfluencers emerge as Gen Z’s go-to source. https://www.glossy.co/beauty/tiktoks-skinfluencers-emerge-as-gen-zs-go-t.... Accessed September 28, 2020
    1. Newton C.TikTok is having a monster 2020. http://www.theverge.com/interface/2020/6/10/21285309/tiktok-2020-user-nu.... Accessed June 12, 2020
    1. Bhate K, Williams HC. Epidemiology of acne vulgaris. Br J Dermatol. 2013;168(3):474-485.
    1. Piper Sandler Companies. Taking stock with teens: a collaborative consumer insights project. http://www.pipersandler.com/2col.aspx?id=6040. Accessed October 25, 2020

LinkOut - more resources