Social media is a platform for patients to share medical experiences with a large audience. However, the influence of such content on individual patient treatment conclusions has yet to be fully explored. Nickles and Haber, in their recent study, characterized patient experiences posted on social media surrounding biologic use for skin psoriasis. They analyzed content from YouTube, Instagram and TikTok and identified patient experiences with a variety of biologics.

They found:

• Humira (20.7%), Cosentyx (14.0%) and Stelara (14.0%) were the most popular biologics.
• About half of all videos/posts (46.4%) described biologics as burdensome.
• The most commonly cited reasons for dislike of biologic included adverse effects or abnormal blood tests (12.8%), cost or insurance issues (11.7%), lack or loss of efficacy (11.7%) and pain with injection or injection site reaction (11.7%).
• The majority (60.9%) of videos/posts reported an overall positive experience with a biologic for their skin psoriasis, which may inspire reluctant patients to try a biologic recommended by their physician.

Source: Nickles MA, Haber RN. Social media voices on the treatment of skin psoriasis with biologics. J Dermatolog Treat. 2022;33(8):3208-9.