Trends and Preferences of Rhinoplasty Among Chinese Patients: A Social Media Analysis.

[BACKGROUND] This study investigated the trends, motivations and preferences of rhinoplasty in China.

[METHODS] Data on rhinoplasty were collected from Xiaohongshu and analyzed for trends. Text analysis and word frequency statistics were performed on the notes and comments using Python modules.

[RESULTS] We obtained 1065 notes with 102,153 comments, 239,383 collections and 640,579 likes. The number of rhinoplasty-related publications increased annually, correlating with per capita disposable income of households (DI) growth (r = 0.609, P = 0.041 < 0.05). In the Southern provinces, there was a notably higher volume of publications compared to the Northern provinces (P = 0.001). Furthermore, a significant correlation was observed between publication data, population size, and the DI (r = 0.786, P < 0.001). The nasal tip (3197) and nasion (1409) were the most mentioned nasal subunits. "Good-looking" (9672) and "natural" (2811) were the most used words to describe the nose shape. The "doctor" (4377), the "hospital" (2182) and "hyaluronic acid" (2106) were the most mentioned rhinoplasty procedure related vocabulary.

[CONCLUSIONS] Discussions about rhinoplasty in China are increasing, and more people express their desire for rhinoplasty on social networks, related to China's DI growth. The Southern provinces show a higher inclination toward these discussions, a trend that correlates with our findings of a positive association between NOPs and both DI and population size. Netizens pay more attention to the shape of nasal tip and nasion, and prefer the good-looking and natural appearance. Most people consider autologous cartilage or hyaluronic acid injection for rhinoplasty. Doctors are the primary consideration for patients.

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