RealSelf is the largest, most trusted online resource for people wanting to learn about plastic surgery and other cosmetic procedures—and connect with top doctors and aesthetic providers. Wherever you are on your aesthetic journey, we’re here to guide and empower you along the way.
RealSelf (realself.com) has 340 customer reviews on Five Star Index, with an average rating of 3.9 out of 5.
Also known as
realself.com
Website
realself.com
Category
Malls & Marketplaces
Location
Seattle, Washington
Listed on Five Star Index
2026
About these reviews
Replies
The company replied to 83% of reviews.
Latest
Most recent review: October 2026.
Edits
Reviews are shown as their authors wrote them. The company can reply, but cannot edit them.
Score
This company cannot pay to remove reviews or change its score.
You can find good overviews of different procedures and products, but many of the reviews are clearly fake, and RealSelf seems to have no interest in vetting them appropriately. Still, it's useful for getting a sense of what is out there and how much it might cost.
Response from RealSelfAug 28, 2024
Thanks for sharing your concerns. Ensuring that RealSelf reviews are authentic is one of our top priorities. Our moderation team is dedicated to identifying and preventing fake reviews from ever being published. The moderation process includes screening via proprietary technology and evaluation by a trained moderator. Any reviews that don't meet our guidelines are not posted.
If you have concerns about specific reviews, please reach out to [email protected]
We would be more than happy to investigate further.
RM
RealSelf M.
A lot of the stories are repetitive
A lot of the stories are repetitive, and there really aren't that many different stories or photos about the procedures.
Response from RealSelfAug 15, 2024
Sorry to hear that our emails haven’t been helpful to you. On our site, you can find detailed information, before-and-after photos, and reviews for the procedures you're interested in. If you need help finding anything, please reach out to [email protected] We’re here to assist you!
MV
Mina V.
Terrible moderation practices and…
Terrible moderation practices and approval/review processes. They highly censor what goes on the site.
Look for reviews and responses in multiple avenues, don’t rely on this site.
Response from RealSelfMay 24, 2021
Thank you for sharing your feedback. We're sorry to hear you felt your question was censored because it wasn't published. It's never our intent to cause upset.
For questions about healing or recovery, we suggest speaking to your surgeon directly. Your surgeon is familiar with your medical history and will be able to perform an in-person exam to answer your questions.
Your wellbeing is important to us. If you find that your doctor isn't able to help, we're always happy to help you get a second opinion. Please contact our support team ([email protected]) for assistance.
M
M
Be careful
Yes! RealSelf.com have good information
Which I do appreciate but Wednesday past
I send one doctor a enquirer about treatment price
and the next thing I know the Website starts to send my enquirer to all the doctors without my permission. All these emails starts to roll-in none stop and phone calls as well. I send a email to
RealSelf.com technical support regarding this issue and that I would like my account cancel. I have not received a reply as of yet but I’m still getting emails and phone calls.
Response from RealSelfApr 16, 2020
Thanks for sharing your feedback, M. We tried to contact you through Trustpilot’s direct messaging system but we unfortunately haven’t heard back. This experience isn’t familiar -- we don’t send your contact info to anyone without your permission -- so we’d like to find out more about what happened. Please email us at [email protected] so we can help.
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As the employee of a plastic surgeon...
As someone who works in a plastic surgeon's office, I always liked RealSelf. Yes, they are a for-profit website, and they make money by forcing doctors to buy ads in order to be seen, however they were a good resource for patients - think Yelp! for cosmetic procedures.
However, we broke our contract with RealSelf, and let me explain why. Firstly, aside form making the doctor's office pay for ads, they used to also demand that doctor's offices answered patient questions to maintain "Top Doctor Status," a.k.a. so that patients would see that doctor before others. So, not only were doctors paying to be feaurtured, but they were created massive amounts of content (at their own expense) for RealSelf to use to bait potential cosmetic customers.
Now, as of a couple of months ago, RealSelf eliminated "Top Doctor Status," so any hard work that doctors and their staff may have put in is worthless. Not only this, but the replacement program, RealSelf "Verified" doctors is so much worse.
RealSelf displays these "verified" doctors with a checkmark by their name to the public, as if they are somehow more qualified, better trained, have higher standards or otherwise are better.
Would you like to know what qualifications these "Verified" Doctors have?
1. malpractice insurance
2. an additional check written to RealSelf of 50-300$ per month.
Think about that from the consumer point of view.... looks like money-grubbing dishonesty to me. No thanks.
Response from RealSelfNov 12, 2019
Thank you for sharing your concerns. Please contact your RealSelf Advisor to help clarify some inaccurate information you may have. In particular:
1) The RealSelf Verified status is not a paid status and is given only to those RealSelf Network members who meet our highest standards of trust and transparency. The two bullets you listed are not additional requirements.
2) One of the RealSelf Verified requirements is a commitment to patient education, which includes Q&A, but we have reduced the number of ongoing contributions you need in helping consumers via Q&A since the RealSelf Top Doctor and,
3) Yes, local advertising is a paid upgrade (it is on most sites) but it is not forced on you and the majority of doctor profiles on RealSelf do not participate in advertising.
I am happy to discuss these with you personally, feel free to contact me (Maureen E., Chief Customer Officer) through your RealSelf Advisor and/or dashboard.
