Social media and plastic surgery

I have a complicated relationship with social media and plastic surgery content.

On one hand, platforms like TikTok and Instagram are how most of my patients find me. They watch my Lives, they see real OR footage, they hear me answer the same questions I answer in consultation. That kind of access is genuinely valuable, and it changes how patients walk into surgery because they are better prepared.

On the other hand, a significant portion of plastic surgery content online is filtered, distorted, or flat-out inaccurate. And patients who cannot tell the difference sometimes arrive with expectations that no surgeon can meet.

The recovery problem

Social media content about cosmetic surgery often misrepresents recovery times, minimizing the risks while glorifying the benefits. I see the result of this regularly. Patients come in expecting to have surgery on a Friday and be fully functional by the following week. For some procedures, that is closer to reality than it used to be with techniques like the drainless tummy tuck. But for others, that timeline is not realistic, and arriving with that expectation sets patients up for a harder recovery than necessary, because the psychological adjustment is as demanding as the physical one.

The patients who do best in recovery are the ones who went in knowing exactly what to expect, including the hard days. Surprise makes recovery harder. Preparation makes it easier.

The results problem

Filters, AI-generated imagery, and heavily edited before-and-after content have made it genuinely difficult for patients to evaluate realistic outcomes. When a patient comes in pointing to a result they saw online, the first conversation we have is about whether that result is anatomically achievable for their specific body. Most of the time, the honest answer is that it is not a 1-to-1 comparison.

A good surgical outcome is not one that matches someone else's photos. It is one that is proportional, natural, and right for that patient's anatomy and goals.

The credentials problem

Not all plastic surgery content online comes from board-certified plastic surgeons. Some of it comes from practitioners with different training, different credentials, and different standards of care. Patients watching that content do not always know the difference, and that matters when they are making a decision about who to trust with their body.

Board certification in plastic surgery means completed residency training, passed written and oral board examinations, and maintained ongoing requirements. It is a specific credential, and it is worth verifying before a consultation, not after.

What I try to do differently

The content I put out on my social media platforms is designed to give patients an accurate picture. Real OR footage. Real recovery timelines. Real answers to the questions I hear most. Not everything performs as well as filtered content. But the patients who find me through that educational content arrive better prepared, ask better questions, and have better outcomes.

Social media is not going away, and neither is its influence on how patients think about plastic surgery. The best response to that is more accurate information, not less content.