Strabismus Misinformation More Popular on Social Media than Education, Study Says

A recent study published in Strabismus analyzed TikTok and Instagram videos tagged with #strabismus and #lazyeye, revealing that patient engagement was highest with lower-quality content. Using validated tools, researchers found that videos created by healthcare professionals were more accurate and understandable but received less attention. The findings highlight the urgent need for eyecare providers to produce accessible, high-quality educational content to combat misinformation and improve patient outcomes online. Click image to enlarge. Social media’s influence on healthcare information is unavoidable and, in some cases, problematic. Studies show that over 67% of 18- to 25-year-olds turn to platforms such as TikTok and Instagram to learn about health, but—as is also true more broadly—social media algorithms may amplify less credible sources, potentially causing patients to follow inaccurate advice. In an attempt to gain hard data on this topic, researchers assessed the quality of educational content on social media about strabismus, which affects 2% to 5% of people and has a recognized psychosocial impact that would naturally lead patients to seek out information. Their findings were recently published in the journal Strabismus, which showed users were more engaged with lower-quality videos, demonstrating a clear need for high-quality content created by healthcare professionals.This study was based on data collected from TikTok and Instagram by searching specific hashtags, including #strabismus and #lazyeye. Of the top 200 videos initially analyzed, only 54 were determined to be educational content aimed at patients; these were chosen for blind review using the following tools:mDISCERN, uses five yes/no questions to evaluate the reliability of content, scored as a cumulative total out of five points;the Global Quality Scale (GQS), to assess video reliability and quality, with scores on a five-point scale with higher scores indicating better flow, accuracy and relevance; and thePatient Education Materials Assessment Tool for Audiovisual Materials (PEMAT-A/V) to assess understandability and actionability of the videos, such as use of plain language, logical organization and clear visuals. According to the results, the videos scored an average mDISCERN of 2.8/5, GQS of 3.3/5, PEMAT-A/V understandability of 78.5%, and actionability of 42.3%. Pearson’s correlation analysis showed views and likes to be negatively correlated with mDISCERN and GQS scores, but positively correlated with PEMAT-A/V actionability. Content created by healthcare professionals, including optometrists and ophthalmologists, scored higher mDISCERN, GQS and PEMAT-A/V understandability scores than patient-created content.The authors wrote in their paper, “These findings underscore the disparity between video quality and user engagement on social media. While videos produced by healthcare professionals, including ophthalmologists, orthoptists and optometrists, scored significantly higher in educational quality (as measured by mDISCERN and GQS), they received lower engagement in terms of views and likes. This suggests that patients may prioritize entertainment, relatability or ease of access over content accuracy when engaging with strabismus-related videos.”They also expressed their concern over the strong positive correlation between actionability and engagement, indicating patients are more likely to interact with content that provides clear steps or guidance, but such videos were often lower overall quality. “This implies that patients may be drawn to easily actionable but potentially misleading or incomplete advice,” they wrote in Strabismus.Hashtags also proved important. For instance, “#squint” yielded irrelevant results, while colloquialisms like “#lazyeye” were more effective in reaching target audiences. “This observation highlights the need for clinicians to adapt their communication strategies to the nuances of social media platforms, ensuring that their content is accessible and discoverable,” wrote the authors. “Such adaptation could involve collaborations with social media platforms to create verified categories or tags for health education, reducing the risk of misinformation.”The algorithm-driven nature of social media is a limitation of the study noted by the researchers, which results in account-specific variations in video rankings. Another limitation is that only English-language content was analyzed, potentially reducing the generalizability of the findings. The authors suggest future studies could incorporate machine learning to overcome subjectivity challenges and standardize quality assessments across larger datasets.“Patients with strabismus are exposed to media of heterogeneous quality from a wide variety of creators,” the authors concluded. “Addressing these gaps will require a concerted effort from ophthalmologists, orthoptists, optometrists and other healthcare professionals, as well as social media platforms and public health organizations, to ensure that patients have access to reliable, actionable, and engaging educational resources.”Click here for the journal source. Ghanekar E, Duff R, Kowdley Hemanth L, and Jain S. Strabismus: An assessment of educational content on social media. Strabismus. May 28, 2025. [Epub ahead of print.]