Background and objective.

Social media is widely used by teenagers, in fact, it represents one of the main means of communication between them. The images used to construct a profile are specially selected in order to show only what they want to share about themselves. Aesthetic sequelae after burns have traditionally been a concern for reconstructive surgeons. We would like to find out if visible sequelae influence the way these patients interact with social media given the vast physical exposure that they include.

Methods.

Burned children with severe vital o functional injuries treated between 2015 and 2022 in the national reference center for pediatric burn treatment in Uruguay (UNIQUER) were identified. Those aged 10 or above were selected. We designed a digi-tal form (Google Forms) that was sent by instant messaging (Whatsapp) to the selected population with an adult previous authorization and we analyzed the collected data.

Results.

Fifty-one patients met the inclusion criteria, we contacted 32 and obtained 22 responses to the questionnaire; patients aged between 10 and 19 years. All had scars: 9 in face or neck (40.9%) and 9 in hands (40.9 %). The rest of the scars were in less visible places. Of them, 17 (77.3%) required autografts in the acute episode and 7 (31.8%) required surgeries to treat sequelae. We found 21 children (95.4%) who used at least one social network.The most used was Whatsapp (17,81%), Tik Tok (13,61.9%), Instagram (9,42.9%), Facebook (5,23.8%), Twitter (3,14.3%) and other (3,14.3%). Furthermore, 18 children (85.7%) do not post photos with their scars and 5 (23.8%) always or sometimes used effects to hide their scars on social networks. Of the total, 12 patients (54.5%) reported having felt discrimination because of their scars and 9 (40.9%) had been victims of bullying; 14 (63.6%) would be interested in participating in campaigns to prevent discrimination against people with scars

Conclusions.

Despite the low number of cases in our study, we conclude that patients with burn sequelae in the age range studied widely use social networks, Whatsapp being the most used, they hide their scars on networks or use filters to disguise them. More than half feel discriminated because of their scars regardless of location, and some were victims of bullying at school. It is essential to emphasize the education of the popu-lation to prevent situations of violence towards people with visible differences, particularly those with burn stigma.

Level of evidence 5 Meaningfulness

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