Impact of Social Media on Skin Cancer Prevention

Introduction

Social media has immensely influenced the lives of people in recent times. Statistics reveal that around 4.2 billion people use social media across the globe, which constitutes about 53 percent of the world’s total population. Since the COVID-19 pandemic, the life of humans has been greatly dependent on social media, especially in the field of medicine when many telemedicine and teleconsultations started, which has become a boon to modern medicine benefitting both doctors and patients, making treatment facility available even in remote places. It also has reduced the burden of travel for doctors. Thus, social media acts as a platform to communicate and educate the public by creating awareness about various diseases and health conditions.

How Does Social Media Influence Current Health Trends?

• Social media, with its current trends, has made healthcare facilities just a click away from the common public.

• Social media promoting health education has become handy in such a way that 61 percent of adults use online platforms to gather health information, and 39 percent of people depend on social media for health information.

• However, when it comes to skin health and developing skin cancer due to exposure to ultraviolet rays, there is a lack of information on social media to provide awareness about skin cancer and its prevention.

• Hence, healthcare professionals should update the latest information about skin cancer, the latest treatment modalities, and prevention aspects on social media, which can majorly impact the outcomes as social media can become a powerful tool in spreading the word of awareness against skin cancer.

How Does Social Media Influence Skin Awareness Programs Among the Public?

• Skin is the largest organ of the body. The overall well-being of an individual and the aging process are reflected in the skin.

• The aging process is badly affected by increased exposure to harmful ultraviolet rays as the harmful reactive oxygen species accumulate and cause skin damage, which may eventually lead to skin cancer.

• Skin health protection and prevention of skin cancer measures have been taken to create awareness among the public. Now, health professionals are seeking social media platforms to promote skin health, as skin health determines an individual’s beauty. Hence, social media can influence the public to take protective measures like applying sunscreen, reducing exposure time when getting exposed to UV rays, and providing awareness about the importance of maintaining good skin health.

• There lies an immediate urge to spread awareness about skin cancer as recent times have witnessed an increase in the rise of skin cancer cases.

• The various types of skin cancer include squamous, basal, and melanoma forms, which are most commonly prevalent across the globe.

• One of the contributing factors to the rise in skin cancer cases is the current beauty trends encouraging tanning and reclining towards having tanned skin to match the current fashion trends popularized by social media.

• Thus, social media is a powerful tool for influencing the public according to the content published.

• Social media in recent times have been misused to carry wrong messages concerning health. However, the same media can be used to uphold genuine and proper information concerning the importance of skin health and skin cancer prevention, as it can help in spreading the right information about skin cancer and its prevention and save many lives.

What Are the Different Social Media Platforms Available to Promote Skin Health and Skin Cancer Prevention Strategies?

1. Instagram:

• Social media tends to be a powerful tool in influencing the youth positively to be aware of the importance of skin health. They are more concerned about beauty and skin health, and the scientific information uploaded is also greatly accepted; hence, social media platforms play a vital role in preventing skin cancer.

• According to recent studies, Instagram has been associated with the most searched skin cancer awareness posts, and Twitter is among the most searched social media sites for skin health.

• One recent study reveals that medical and surgical dermatologic posts contain hashtags like “sun damage” with 73,332 results, “melanoma” with 68,743 results, and “skin cancer” with 65,776 results.

• Such platforms share testimonials of people who already suffered from the disease and the benefits of protective measures taken, like using sunscreen, and the results bring hope to the audience and influence them to follow the stories shared.

• Thus, Instagram greatly influences the public, especially the youth, in creating awareness among the public on the importance of skin health and taking various measures to prevent skin cancer, as the latter are more prone to be misled by incorrect information about beauty and purposeful tanning initiatives promoted in the social media.

2. Facebook:

• Facebook is another important social media platform that can influence users through its content on health and wellness.

• A recent survey shows that dermatologic posts on skin health are most commonly viewed and searched to obtain solutions for skin problems.

• Thus, facebook also leaves a large impact on young minds about maintaining good skin health and also the ways to avoid the occurrence of skin cancer, and thus, the alarming issue of increasing skin cancer cases can be reduced.

3. Youtube:

• Apart from written information, videos serve as the best means of communication to make the viewer understand the concept thoroughly.

• Thus, YouTube videos are more popular and sought-after tools to gain knowledge about various health concerns.

• Dermatologic videos on YouTube can give a clear insight into the causes, risk factors, screening procedures, and treatment modalities of skin cancer, thus increasing the knowledge of the general public on skin cancer and its protective and preventive aspects.

• Also, the knowledge on other related health concerns regarding skin health can be shared through various educational videos.

• YouTube videos also play a crucial role in teaching self-evaluation of skin in case of skin cancer like melanomas and making the patients independent and efficient in doing skin inspection, which could be quite impossible just by taking a physician’s guidance alone.

4. Influencers:

• Influencers are people who influence social media users with the knowledge they have, their qualification, their hold on the content, and their experience pertaining to the topic discussed.

• Influencers have their own set of followers on social media who follow them for health tips, beauty tips, and various other skills required.

• They influence the public and gain their trust because of the relationship they have with the public and the content they are addressing.

• Thus, the awareness of skin cancer prevention measures can be made easily available to the public with the help of influencers, which positively affects the success of such awareness programs.

Conclusion:

Health sectors need to follow global health trends by utilizing social media platforms as much as possible to spread the word of awareness concerning various health issues. This current health trend seems to be more successful and fruitful in influencing the public by inculcating the importance of skin health and encouraging them to take various preventive measures against skin cancer prevention, especially the young generation who follow them to keep up with the trend. Thus, many dermatology health professionals are now propagating the message of skin cancer and its preventive measures through social media, which forms a powerful tool in guiding the audience on the right path and also urges them to neglect the wrong information circulated by unauthentic and fake sources.