YouTube as a source of patient information for pterygium surgery

BACKGROUND: Patients use the YouTube platform to get information about pterygium surgery, and this affects the treatment decisions of the patients. OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this study was to analyze the quality and reliability of YouTube videos as educational resources about pterygium surgery. DESIGN: This is a register-based retrospective study. METHODS: This was a retrospective, record-based study. A YouTube search was performed using the terms ‘pterygium surgery’ and ‘pterygium eye surgery’, resulting in the evaluation of a total of 200 videos. In the end, 122 English-language videos about pterygium surgery were recruited to study. All videos were rated with the DISCERN, the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), and the Global Quality Score (GQS) systems. RESULTS: The mean DISCERN, JAMA, and GQS values were 38.9 ± 10.9, 1.8 ± 0.8, and 2.2 ± 1, respectively. The YouTube videos about pterygium surgery had been uploaded by a physician in 63 (51.6%) and non-physicians in 59 (48.4%) cases. There was no significant difference between the two groups in terms of general characteristics and scores. CONCLUSIONS: Our results show that YouTube videos about pterygium surgery have low quality and credibility and are not sufficient in terms of providing patient information. REGISTRATION: Not applicable.