BOB体育

When it comes to Twitter, the term 鈥減lastic surgery鈥� could use some rejuvenation.

In one of the first and largest studies of its kind, a University of Florida Health surgeon and his colleagues analyzed more than 1 million Twitter posts to gauge the public鈥檚 sentiment toward plastic surgery. Among a group of four surgery keywords 鈥� plastic, cosmetic, aesthetic and reconstruction 鈥� the word 鈥減lastic鈥� was frequently used on Twitter but finished dead last in positivity scores, the researchers found.

鈥淭weets with the word 鈥榩lastic鈥� surgery in them were more negatively associated than other, similar words,鈥� said Mustafa Chopan, M.D., a resident in the 鈥檚 .

Using a sentiment-analysis technique known as hedonometrics, Chopan and his collaborators at the University of Vermont鈥檚 Computational Story Lab and Larner College of Medicine did a deep dive on Twitter. Their aim was to calculate the average 鈥渉appiness score鈥� for tweets related to plastic surgery. The were published recently in the journal .

The average 鈥渉appiness score鈥� is based on a weighted mathematical formula that considers each word鈥檚 frequency and underlying sentiment. Although 鈥減lastic鈥� was the most popular term for Twitter users, it had the lowest positivity score (5.72) compared with 鈥渃osmetic鈥� (6), 鈥渁esthetic鈥� (6.16) and 鈥渞econstruction (6.09).鈥�

Studying the public鈥檚 attitudes is important because it can help guide plastic surgeons鈥� social networking practices, Chopan said. Until now, there has been scant evidence to help with that. Surgeons also tend to think of their reconstruction, aesthetic and plastic surgery work homogeneously, while patients and the public view them as more distinct, he added.

鈥淐hanging the public鈥檚 perception of plastic surgery is hard to do, but the most important thing is for surgeons and health care professionals to be active and have a voice on social media,鈥� Chopan said.

So why is the Twitterverse not so fond of the word 鈥減lastic鈥� when it comes to surgery? Chopan believes it has to do with accompanying words: Tweets containing the word 鈥減lastic鈥� were more likely to also have one or more negative words such as 鈥渦gly,鈥� 鈥渂ad,鈥� 鈥渇ake,鈥� 鈥渁ddicted,鈥� and 鈥渇ails.鈥� Tweets involving the other surgical keywords 鈥� cosmetic, aesthetic and reconstruction 鈥� were less likely to have those negative associations, the researchers found. In particular, reconstruction had a higher happiness score because it was often wrapped in a host of positive words such as 鈥渉onor,鈥� 鈥渞espect鈥� and 鈥渞ecovery.鈥�

鈥淩econstruction was associated more positively than plastic surgery as a term because of the presence of supportive words like 鈥渉onor鈥� and 鈥渁mazing,鈥� Chopan said. 鈥淧erhaps it is seen as more of a courageous effort or procedure as opposed to beautification.鈥�

Future studies should focus on other social media platforms to better understand the public鈥檚 sentiment and perceptions of plastic surgery, the researchers noted.