Wenhui Liu 1 , Zhiru Wei 1 , Xu Cheng 1 , Ran Pang 1 , Han Zhang 1 , Guangshuai Li 1 Show Affiliations »
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. ©Wenhui Liu, Zhiru Wei, Xu Cheng, Ran Pang, Han Zhang, Guangshuai Li. Originally published in the Journal of Medical Internet Research (http://www.jmir.org), 16.03.2021.
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. ©Wenhui Liu, Zhiru Wei, Xu Cheng, Ran Pang, Han Zhang, Guangshuai Li. Originally published in the Journal of Medical Internet Research (http://www.jmir.org), 16.03.2021.
Entities: Chemical
Disease
Species
Keywords:
COVID-19; Google Trends; Twitter; plastic procedure; social media; surgery; survey; trend
Mesh： See more »
Year: 2021
PMID： 33608248 PMCID： PMC7968479 DOI： 10.2196/23970
Source DB: PubMed Journal: J Med Internet Res ISSN： 1438-8871 Impact factor: 5.428