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You’ve probably seen his face, debunking quackery like taping your mouth will help you sleep.
But TikTok icon Dr. Karan Raj, who has amassed millions of fans for his witty and hard-hitting explanations, is one of the few trusted social media experts.
The Hampshire-based NHS surgeon, whose full name is Dr Karan Rangarajan, has shared thousands of videos online, tackling the endless stream of dishonest health myths circulating the web.
In engaging videos, the 33-year-old also explains the body’s strange mechanisms through detailed yet easily digestible information.
Its objective? Simple. Make people more informed about their health.
But TikTok icon Dr. Karan, who has amassed millions of fans for his witty and hard-hitting explanations, is one of the few trusted experts on TikTok.
Dr. Karan started posting videos to YouTube in 2012.
At first, he focused on providing practical explanations to medical students and professionals, covering topics on how to take a patient’s medical history and blood pressure to remove kidney stones.
But he turned to TikTok in November 2019 to “reach out and spread more information about public health.”
At the time, millions were downloading the app, where short videos can be uploaded quickly and go viral.
And with Covid plunging nations into lockdown just months later, people were glued to their phones and more interested in health than ever.
“I noticed there was a growing epidemic of misinformation online, from mildly bad stuff like ‘doing colon cleanses’ to really horrible stuff about vaccinations,” Dr Karan told MailOnline.
“So I realized that it’s an area that needs to be targeted.”
Doctors working in the UK must register with the General Medical Council (GMC), which protects patients by setting standards for students and doctors. It establishes that doctors must promote public health.
‘I was like, social media is essentially an extension of that. So you know, I’m doing my duty as a doctor,” says Dr. Karan.
One of his first viral videos was a warning to those who don gloves when venturing outside during the pandemic. She filmed the clip after coming off a night shift.
‘I made a video on why people shouldn’t wear gloves. You know, there’s a huge increase in people, starting with the Covid pandemic, wearing gloves in supermarkets, gas stations.
“I thought this was ridiculous, because they were just transferring the germs and the gloves everywhere. And I made a video with my glove on and I drew on it.
Dozens of media outlets around the world picked it up and it was viewed hundreds of thousands of times.
“That’s what really highlighted the power of social media to me,” said Dr. Karan.
The most recent clips include debunking claims that a shot of lemon juice can fight acid reflux, how you can tell if you have a deviant spectrum, and an explanation about a new pill that seems to kill cancer.
No medical subject is off-limits to Dr. Karan, with videos on women’s health, neuroscience, and gut health all on his channel.
Dr Karan said: ‘I’m very curious so I learned all these things.
‘The videos you see are a reflection of my curiosity.
“If I find something interesting, I want to tell the audience and I hope they find it interesting too.”
But while his videos have removed the wool from the eyes of many of his millions of followers, Dr. Karan has witnessed firsthand how difficult it is to discredit some issues, with vaccines and covid being among the most controversial topics. .
“The community of people who think of a certain conspiracy or have a certain way of thinking, there’s a certain psychology there, that’s very hard to change,” he said.
“There’s almost a certain delusion, and when someone has a delusion that’s really deep and sits deep within their own psychology, it’s sometimes very difficult to change it, even if you show them science to the contrary.”
He added: ‘There is now more misinformation than ever because more people are accessing social media and online spaces.
Dr. Karan began posting videos on YouTube in 2012 that were hands-on explanations for students and medical professionals, covering topics on how to take a patient’s medical history and blood pressure to remove kidney stones. But he turned to TikTok in November 2019 to “reach out and spread more public health information.”
“Sometimes people grow up in these little silos where they’re just stuck in their own echo chamber. And spread that misinformation.
But it doesn’t discourage Dr. Karan, who believes he can ‘ditch’ pseudoscience and change some people’s minds.
In a video, he explained the science behind covid vaccines. In her own words, she became ‘very simply without being dismissive or condescending’.
“My approach is to give the science and then let the people decide what they want.”
After posting the clip, Dr. Karan saw a thread on Reddit, where someone had said that he had gone from being an anti-vaxxer to getting the jab and recommending it to his friends.
“That’s kind of the end goal of what I’m trying to do, you know, to change people’s mindsets by improving health on a person-by-person basis,” he said.
But it’s not just the web that’s fueling the rise in health misinformation.
Dr. Karan has come across an inaccurate understanding of a number of conditions among patients that have been reported by famous doctors.
One patient, who suffered from diverticular disease, when bulges develop in the lining of the large intestine, believed that if he ate seeds or nuts, they would get stuck in the little sacs.
Dr Karan’s patient had read “completely false” health advice in a book written by a “well-known former British doctor, now a pseudoscientist, who is on the best-seller list,” he said.
“I tried to tell the patient, ‘The book you are reading is complete rubbish and what you are telling me is also wrong,’” he said.
The patient eventually agreed to this after Dr. Karan was endorsed by colleagues.
‘So (health myths) are everywhere. It’s not just in the online space, it trickles down into the real world,” she said.
Doctors on TV and breakfast shows are among the worst culprits and are misinformed or trying to promote something, like a book, a course or vitamins, because “misinformation is sexy and it sells,” says Dr. Karan.
When the doctor is not working on an NHS hospital or posting on TikTok, she is often at home spending time with her English Mastiff, Shadow.
“I leave my weekends relatively unstructured. Maybe set aside an hour two for video and social media,” Dr. Karan said.
‘And actually, that’s my interaction with social media. I don’t scroll through the videos, I just go there to make and post a video and then I’m out of there.’
The Referral, which launched in May, has covered topics ranging from why women don’t have enough orgasms to daily habits that destroy their gut health.
She also enjoys exercising, gardening, baking, and napping.
Some studies and doctors criticize the idea for fear that naps are linked to insomnia, diabetes, heart disease and depression.
But Dr. Karan is a strong supporter.
“Humans have this biphasic sleep pattern where we naturally experience dips (in energy throughout) the day,” around 10 p.m. and 1 p.m., he said.
‘That’s a perfect time for a nap. But you don’t want to nap too close to bedtime, because then you won’t be able to sleep at night, which is not good.
Science has shown that naps improve cognition, memory can also improve learning.
“So it’s scientifically proven: You should take naps,” says Dr. Karan.
Dr. Karan was born in Mumbai, before moving to Nairobi at three, Hong Kong at four, and London at five.
He attended Westminster School in central London, which charges up to £50,000 a year for boarding students and over £37,000 for day students.
A combination of excelling in science in school and hearing stories of his mother’s hospital shifts as a hematologist, a doctor who treats disorders of the blood and bone marrow, was behind Dr. Karan’s decision to become a doctor. .
‘I wanted to do something with my hands, to solve a problem. And to me, the surgery made sense. So my path almost crystallized as I got older,” she said.
He spent six years studying medicine at Imperial College London, where he organized FIFA tournaments and played cricket with friends, in addition to his studies, before joining the health service in 2014, where he now sees up to 15 patients a day.
Between juggling working for the NHS (he says he would never go private) and his social media accounts, Dr Karan also found the time to start a podcast and write a book.
The Referral, which launched in May, has covered topics ranging from why women don’t have enough orgasms to daily habits that destroy their gut health.
In an episode this week, he quizzed fertility expert Dr. Helen O’Neill about the causes of infertility, the cost of egg freezing, and the chances of getting pregnant with frozen eggs.
He also wrote This Book May Save Your Life, which Penguin will release on December 28 and is available for pre-order, which promises “facts about the human body that can save lives.”
“It’s a cocktail of my memories of medical school, time as a hospital doctor, as a surgeon, anecdotes from that,” Dr. Karan said.
“But also to debunk the medical myths that I talk about online, interesting facts that I always love to share, medical history, which is another one of my passions, combined with health hacks and to improve people’s lives.”