A mysterious lump on her bottom prompted Lily Chung to try self-diagnosis on the internet. 'It was one of those things you just didn't want to take to a doctor,' says the 42-year-old teacher, who prefers not to disclose her real name.
On doing a Web search of her ailment, she was presented with several pictures and descriptions of boils and cysts. For four months she tried the diets, creams and supplements suggested by the forums she visited in the hope it would disappear. It didn't, so she finally plucked up the courage to visit her doctor.
'It was in a sensitive place, so I'd experienced regular pain,' says Chung. 'And it was getting worse.'
Her doctor diagnosed it as a sebaceous cyst, and it was subsequently removed in a minor operation under local anaesthetic.
These days, the internet provides an unprecedented amount of information about health-related problems, with numerous websites dedicated to medical issues.
Last year, a study by IBM Research found that 37 per cent of a core sample of 2,500 Canadians used the internet to find health information. One-quarter of those were looking to confirm a doctor's advice, find people with a similar condition or manage an existing condition. Meanwhile, in Singapore some of the most popular health-related online word searches over a six-month period have been for 'pregnancy', 'depression', 'breast cancer', 'HIV', 'chicken pox', 'thyroid', 'herpes' and 'piles', according to Australia-based Web tracker Hitwise. During the same period, Singapore internet users visited more than 300 local and global health websites.
'The internet is my first point of reference before going to the doctor,' says Chung. 'It's so up- to-date and there are so many opinions you can get.'