2024-02-10 09:01:43
Patient moved to tears, photos before/following an operation… Many plastic surgeons who practice privately, including Quebecers, use social media to promote their businesses and have thousands of subscribers. Their presence there is such that some of them actually notice a phenomenon of “doctor-influencers”.
Doctor Hani Sinno welcomes us to his clinic in downtown Montreal. A fervent user of Instagram, he is followed by nearly 30,000 subscribers. In his eyes, the arrival of Instagram has changed the game in his profession.
In one year, my practice increased by 30% just because I am on Instagram, says Dr. Sinno, who has been using this social network since 2017. He calls himself a small influencer, since thousands of people see his stories each day.
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Doctor Sinno’s clinic, in downtown Montreal.
Photo: Radio-Canada / Violette Cantin
We have identified more than ten Quebec plastic surgeons who are particularly active on social networks. On their Instagram and TikTok accounts, they post all kinds of content featuring their profession and their clientele. These publications are often accompanied by the telephone number of their clinic as well as an invitation to call to make an appointment.
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This increased presence on social networks is being built, as Dr. Sinno explains. In the past, he organized a grand opening party at his clinic to which he invited several influencers. They took videos, made tagsof the likes. I grew 10,000, 15,000 [abonnés] just with this evening.
He specifies that he did not pay them, since such a practice is prohibited by the College of Physicians.
Essential, social networks?
Quebec plastic surgeons are far from being the only ones to use social networks. The phenomenon can be observed elsewhere, such as in the United States, where certain specialists sometimes have millions of subscribers on TikTok and Instagram.
Surgeon Arie Benchetrit, based in the Montreal area, says he sees it as an essential form of marketing to reach the demographic groups that interest us.
According to him, it is even difficult to escape from it. Potential patients talk regarding us, compare their surgery. So even indirectly, we are all involved in social networks.
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Doctor Benoit Leblanc, based in Laval, also shares photos and videos with his nearly 15,000 subscribers on Instagram.
These are things that we have managed to do, results that are achievable. Can this create complexes in people? He leaves his question hanging, before resuming. We can take patients in whom, even with normal anatomy, we will never be able to achieve as good results as with certain other patients.
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A directive not always respected
The College of Physicians publishes a exercise guide (New window) to regulate advertising and public statements by doctors.
We have noted that compliance with at least one of the directives contained in this guide of around fifteen pages can fluctuate. This rule stipulates that doctors who publish photos such as before and following treatment on a patient must attach a warning text to specify that these photos in no way constitute a guarantee of results.
There were 125 plastic surgeons in the province in 2022. On the Instagram accounts of 13 practitioners that we identified, all of whom post several times a week, seven of them had at least one before/following type publication that did not include the mandatory warning text.
The College of Physicians clarified to us in writing that before/following photos can help inform the public regarding the nature of the services offered to a certain extent. However, they must respect the conditions specified in the exercise guide.
It’s going to get worse and worse
Doctor Geneviève Blackburn, unlike her colleagues interviewed, practically does not publish photos of her clients on her Instagram account. This is explained, among other things, by the fact that she has few places for new patients and that she does not want to be in front of the camera, she confides. She nevertheless thinks that some of her colleagues can be described as doctor-influencers.
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There is a place for everything that is informative, educational, believes the woman who has worked in aesthetic medicine for fifteen years. But in medical aesthetics, there are a lot of accounts, and it will get worse and worse, with a lot of filters [appliqués sur les photos] and before/followings that are really unrealistic.
We arrive with patients in consultation who have unrealistic ideas, either with their budget or with their face, she says. Patients are not able to have a good understanding of how their own face ages or what can be done with a certain amount of products.
The College of Physicians concedes that the issue of the use of filters is not addressed specifically in its guide, but recalls that the code of ethics stipulates that a doctor cannot make false or misleading advertising or representations. or incomplete.
A phenomenon that raises questions
The regular use of social networks by certain doctors raises ethical and professional questions, according to ethicist and associate professor at the School of Public Health at the University of Montreal Emmanuelle Marceau.
We see that the advantages of cosmetic surgery are being promoted. […] Should these practices be displayed like this on the web?
Professor in the Department of Social and Public Communication at the University of Quebec in Montreal, Camille Alloing, notes a new way of making medical practices visible. He notes in passing that this can trivialize cosmetic surgery practices, which are not as trivial as that.
Which is not without consequences, he adds. Today we have quite a few studies which show that certain audiences, particularly adolescents and both female and male, perceive a new standard of beauty and appearance through the publications that they continually see, particularly on Instagram.
These videos of cosmetic surgeries help, once once more, to redefine what a beautiful nose and a beautiful chest would be. He states without hesitation that he notices a phenomenon of doctor-influencers.
The College of Physicians concerned
Mr. Alloing offers a broader reflection on commodification in the age of social media.
Is it ethical or not for cosmetic surgeons to use platforms like Instagram? […] to transform the bodies of their patients into advertising objects?
To this question, the College of Physicians responds that it is concerned regarding the situation and invites anyone who thinks that a doctor is failing in their ethical obligations to make a report via [son] site web.
The president of the Association of Specialists in Plastic and Aesthetic Surgery of Quebec, Éric Bensimon, refused our request for an interview, but responded in writing: We encourage our members to keep up to date and respect their own rules and laws to the practice of medicine and plastic surgery.
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