RealSelf

Dr.'s pay to advertise and can take bad reviews off on technicalities,( that's how they keep it legal). They also can put bogus good reviews up there.

Don't fool yourself. Realself is in no way accurate nor impartial. In fact, Realself works closely with several plastic surgery societies to actively promote the myth to the public that plastic surgeons are superior over all other physicians, but also to hide their disasters and bad reviews. In fact, Realself solicits plastic surgeons to advertise on their site and promote their positive reviews. You will see providers with hundreds of positive reviews and not a single bad one. How is this possible? It is not. Fake reviews are plentiful. However, when non plastic surgeons receive false and defamatory reviews, Realself not only refuses to remove them, they propagate them as some sort of proof that plastic surgeons are superior! Unfortunately, studies have shown that plastic surgeons are not only not superior, but have higher rates of complications over other specialties. Realself hides behind internet free speech laws but then actively solicits and produces false and defamatory content on its own. This is not "free speech", this is fraud and defamation. I am actively assembling litigants to begin a class action lawsuit against Realself for this fraud perpetrated against the public and the cosmetic surgery community.

Let me start by saying for a few years I have absolutely loved this site. I've loved seeing all the before and after photos, and being able to contemplate different treatments based on the experiences of others. Sadly, over the past 6 months or so, I really began to notice the negatives in the deceptive way the site and the reviews are apparently manipulated. I no longer trust it as a credible/complete picture of honest reviews. I have had nothing bad happen to me- only positive doctor experiences for the most part. I'm only writing this from a place of frustration at seeing statistics falsified (the "Worth it" percentage rating for example,) as well as frustration with seeing numerous fake positive reviews, and seeing specific doctors' reviews manipulated (negative reviews removed for some, and positive reviews removed for others.) I've seen this first- hand from "stalking" some of the same reviews and doctors for 2 years. (This is a common thing we potential customers do when trying to make a decision on treatment.) I believe the manipulation is based on who is a paying dr on real self versus those who don't.
Real self has every right to censor whatever it wants in order to benefit it's customers, I suppose, but if you're going to do that, don't purport yourself to be an honest, unbiased review site that provides the same platform for all. If the main purpose is to provide positive marketing for paying doctors, and try to entice other drs into paying by promises of portraying them in a better or different light, then RealSelf should just be upfront about what they are and what they are not. They should have some sort of disclosure to users (like the other aggravating constant pop ups to download their app every time you log on.)
Many potential customers don't know how to spot fake or manipulated reviews, and I'm sure many of them rely on the reviews from this site in large part when making a decision to get these medical treatments. This is one area of business where full disclosure seems absolutely crucial, because the potential implications of being "duped" provide for much higher stakes when the services are to one's body.

Cosmetic surgery. People have it for many reasons, hopes and expectations. It costs a very great deal of money. And sometimes it works, and sometimes it doesn't, and even if it works, it may turn out not to be worth the money. How do you tell?

Enter realself.com, a social community which appeals to a large niche audience, those who have had cosmetic surgery or are thinking about doing so. Here you will find detailed stories of other people's experiences, how much it hurt, how much they paid and whether they thought the procedures were worth the money. There is a voluntary team of board-certified plastic surgeons on call to give advice, too.

The site has been online for four years and has been steadily growing the audience and building the community until its visitor figures have made it into seven figures. It is unique as far as I know, and may represent a growing movement to create "vertical" social communities focused on one common interest rather than being so broadly diverse as to be ultimately unsatisfying.

There have, of course, been forums of a similar nature for years; just look around and you'll find a depressing number of depression forums, for a start. And these can be really useful, and reassuring, and supportive. But often, they aren't, because they're prone to the common problems that almost all forums suffer - control issues, issues of moderation, trolls, flaming, phony postings, spam, and so forth and so on. You can never be sure you'll get a sympathetic response or proper control. Here, though, is a much more organized and friendly environment, optimized for one class of user and supplying both practical advice and sympathy, and a safe place to open up about such a sensitive and perhaps even taboo subject.

If you've ever considered anything from eyelids to major reconstruction, or want to share your experience, this is the place to go.

I was a Realfriend and loved RS when I first started out. Quickly it became obvious that we are censored, not allowed to convey our true experience if it upsets another doctor who pays the site more than the doctor we are using. This is unethical. Most of the RS staff are millennial IT guys who are dismissive and half-annoyed at us who have plastic surgery and who are completely out of touch with the experience. I had the top facelift following and pulled my entire review (which took months and many invested hours) because I was told I would lose my status if I said anything to defend my doctor who was being smeared by two users with no pictures or reviews. Conversely, another top doctor, who had more ad space completely hacked a woman and left tissue death and pretty much butchered her. She was defending her doctor while normal women were commenting that she should seek a lawyer. We were told to defend her and the doctor and to outcast the woman who were bringing this up. It is all "pay to play" and if users realized that bad reviews were suppressed on higher paying doctors (some pay RS 400 a month up to thousands) they would not feel this was "real" at all. We were constantly censored and any real depth in response to other reviewers was discouraged. The staff would openly talk rudely to each other to us who did not even work for realself. Toxic environment and very fake site. We need something new that encourages meaningful journeys, open debate and real testimonies. Only then can we make informed decisions, not partially informed decisions because RealSelf has a financial motivation to appease doctors who pay more, even if the work they do is sub par.

Love the beauty products here. I tried the makeup set that mom gave me last mom, and so far the quality is good

Its 6 weeks after my tummy tuck and lipo to abdomen and flanks. Im absolutely amazed and overjoyed with the results!
Im a 48 years old woman and in 2013 I had a gastric bypass operation at St Anthonys hospital in Cheam in Surrey which resulted in a weight loss of 4.5 stones which I was really happy with but I was left with, not so much loose skin, but a fat tyre around my waist.
Im tried every diet from LighterLife to the cabbage soup diet together with going to the gym 3 times a week I just could not shift this fat around my waist.
I have, over the years, thought about surgery and have seen a couple of surgeons but never really felt happy enough to go through with the procedure.
I went to an open evening presentation by Mr Marc Pacifico last December at the Nuffield Hospital in Tunbridge Wells. Mr Pacifico is a very nice, friendly and easy to talk to plastic surgeon. After the presentation I was impressed and followed it up with a 10 minute free consultation with Mr Pacifico.
In January 2017 I had a further consultation with Mr Pacifico at his offices at Purity Bridge in Tunbridge Wells to discuss the procedure further and during which I was convinced that this surgery was right for me and so it was in fact its the best thing that I have ever done!
I booked my operation for 22nd February which hopefully would leave enough time for most of the swelling to go down as I had a holiday booked in Spain in May.
When I woke after the operation on 22nd February 2017 Mr Pacifico came to see me and told me that he had removed 3.5 kilos (the size of the average baby!) of skin and fat from the tummy tuck and 1 litre of fat from the liposuction.
Its now 6 weeks later and not only have I got a flat stomach but a flat abdomen and a great shape waist. Basically Ive got a great new body which Im over the moon with so thank you very much Mr Pacifico. My operation far exceeded my expectations!

I visited the website thinking that it might be a good source of advice for non-surgical methods of enhancing or improving different areas. I found out that it was not a good source of information at all.

I then thought I would see what advice was given about something I knew about personally.

I have a good personal experience with a non-surgical method of breast enhancement that actually works: the Brava vacuum pump method (FDA approved).
I was interested to see that some had a question about that kind of method.

After seeing what advice was given and the language used, it soon became clear to me that the web site is not a reliable source of information that somebody can rely upon.

All the questions that were asked about ways that they can achieve better or larger breast shape that were not surgical were answered by people who are called doctors or surgeons. You might think that the advice was sound medical advice, but it was not.
Without question, all the questions were answered by negative comments. Those who mentioned the Brava system said it wasn't effective in the long term, or that it only gave an increase in one cup size, and that they only proven method was one that required somebody like them, surgical. I know from my own personal experience that both those answers were completely untrue, so it meant something to me. I posted a comment in the forum accordingly, in which I thought some information was wrong and my own reasons for saying so. That was a few months ago. Although my comment was approved and appeared on the site, it was removed within two weeks.

Any genuine questions regarding how a person can improve the look of themselves will always be told that there is only one proven way to do it, and that is the surgical method: implants, fat injection, etc.

Any question about non-surgical methods is met with negative criticism and a statement that there is only one way to do it, etc. etc.

Any comments that an alternative method works are removed.

I think you get the picture.

Even looking at some entries on the forum that are from people who need help - for example, surgical wounds opening up after a few days, etc - don't seem to get much help apart from the "moral support" from people who are non-medical and nothing much in the way of practical advice from the surgeons or doctors. That is despicable.

It is a way that plastic surgeons use to increase business for themselves, and one of the ways they do that is by criticizing any method of enhancement or body shape improvement that does not require a visit to a plastic surgeon.

I would be wary of any reviews that are carried out by plastic surgeons, cosmetic surgeons, or however they style themselves, because they are highly unlikely to be objective reviews.