RealSelfReviews 101

So I joined RealSelf to find a doctor for a face lift, at the time I didn't know that RealSelf had a reputation for being fake.

There were quite a few doctors in my area (Los Angeles) that had amazing reviews by happy clients, so I reached out by PM to 7 of the most recent patients by 7 doctors.

Well, lo and behold, I got 6 replies not from "patients" but from office staff trying to sign me up for consultations!

Only one reply was from a patient and because of her spammy sounding response, where she didn't address my question to her, I strongly suspect her account was fake, too.

I HOPE no one chooses a plastic surgeon from the reviews on RealSelf!

To add insult to injury, I posted my concern in the RealSelf forum under a very obvious fake review, but my post got deleted immediately. What a scam site!

I cannot say enough good things about my experience with Dr. Gentile. Thanks to this skilled and compassionate physician I now have a more youthful appearance and feel good about myself. I am so glad I visited Dr. Gentile.

I am a plastic surgeon and have answered questions for RealSelf.com. I believe it is an extremely valuable site for obtaining objective imformaton about specific plastic surgeons and the procedures and surgery they perform. They do rarely remove bizaar or clearly inappropriated reviews. By the way, essentially all review sites do.

Be careful taking much away from the people who publish long negative diatribes. I suspect many are competitors who lack board certification and thus our not allowed on the site.

Realself community and reviewers helped me learn about the different options available, what can reasonably be expected, and which doctors I might consider. Saying this is a site funded by 'doctors' has one major flaw: Call up any surgeon and ask what their wait time is. Every surgeon I spoke with was word of mouth only; no advertising needed. Why? Because they were good at what they do. Who is out there looking for sub-standard providers at a discount? Those are one star consumers; RealSelf is not the website for those folks. In all, this is a great place to come for honest experiences and reviews.

The doc I used from this site had five stars all the way, but the surgery I ended up with was far less than a five star outcome. Also, I received email from Real Self and opened one in particular. I had posted a negative review about the doctor on Real Self and was bullied by horrible people unknown who posted comments against me that went way over the line. Back to the email: I opened an attachment and it had NOTHING in it. Within a few days my computer contracted the Cryto 3.0 virus and crashed. I found out that it was likely an "exe" attachment. These are widely used to spread this awful ransom ware virus to your computer. Beware of the reviews, don't post there or open any email from them.

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.

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.

I was beyond impressed with my experience at Dr. Heher's office. Dr. Heher has always provided me with the absolute best care and advice. I am so satisfied after every visit and the reults are amazing! I wouldn't go anywhere else- New England Eye Center, Boston, MA.

Amanda Bruce