Gynecomastia Surgery Patient Education: An Information Quality Assessment of YouTube Videos

Abstract

Background: YouTube is a video platform for many topics, including plastic surgery. Previous studies have shown poor educational value in YouTube videos of plastic surgery procedures. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the quality and accuracy of YouTube videos concerning gynecomastia surgery. Methods: The phrases “gynecomastia surgery” (GS) and “man boobs surgery” (MB) were queried on YouTube. The first 50 videos for each search term were examined. The videos were rated using our novel Gynecomastia Surgery Specific Score (GSSS) to measure gynecomastia-specific information, the Patient Education Materials Assessment Tool (PEMAT) to measure understandability and actionability, and the Global Quality Scale (GQS) to measure general quality. Results: The most common upload source was a board-certified plastic surgeon (35%) and content category was surgery techniques and consultations (51%). Average scores for GQS (x̄ = 2.25), GSSS (x̄ = 3.50), and PEMAT Actionability (x̄ = 44.8%) were low, whereas PEMAT Understandability (x̄ = 77.4%) was moderate to high. There was no difference in all scoring modalities between the GS and MB groups. Internationally uploaded MB videos tended to originate from Asian countries whereas GS videos tended to originate from non-US Western countries. Patient uploaders had higher PEMAT Actionability scores than plastic surgeon uploaders. Conclusion: The quality and amount of gynecomastia-specific information in gynecomastia surgery videos on YouTube is low and contains few practical, take-home points for patients. However, understandability is adequate. Plastic surgeons should caution their patients that YouTube as a source of information for gynecomastia surgery may be unreliable.