JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

Background:

Rosacea is an inflammatory skin disease that is chronic in nature. In addition to the physical symptoms, there are substantial quality of life issues that patients with rosacea experience, largely due to the visible nature in which rosacea manifests.

Objective:

The purpose of this study was to describe the content related to Rosacea in highly viewed English and Spanish language videos on YouTube.

Methods:

Identifying information for each video, and categories including characteristics of rosacea, clinical solutions, and alternative solutions were coded.

Results:

The 100 YouTube videos examined were viewed 18.5 million times between 2006 and 2020; 57.3% of which were generated from consumer videos. Videos posted by consumers more often promoted or were trying to sell a product or procedure (58.2% vs. 32.3% medical professionals and 28.6% TV/internet/news/entertainment, p = 0.03) and more frequently mentioned the use of make-up or other ways to cover up rosacea (54.5% vs. 19.4% medical professionals and 14.3% TV/internet/news/entertainment, p <0.001). Videos sourced from medical professionals more often mentioned medication (54.8%) and using sun protection (58.1%) than videos uploaded by consumers (25.5%) or TV/internet/news/entertainment sources (21.4%) (p=0.01 and p=0.05, respectively).

Conclusions:

Given that rosacea is experienced differently for each person, consumer advice which works for one individual, may not work for another. There is a need for reliable videos on rosacea to emphasize this and to clarify misconceptions.