Editorial policy

Who writes Afters content?

Afters content is published and maintained by the Afters editorial team. Every article identifies its editorial author or organization and links back to this policy. No fabricated reviewer names, no invented doctors, no fake "medical review boards" — any clinician credited by name is real, credentialed, and has consented to the attribution.

The honest part: earlier in our history we published content attributed to a review board that did not exist. We removed it, and preventing that class of mistake is now the first rule of this policy.

How does Afters use AI?

AI tools may assist research organization, transcription, first-draft writing, and visual production. They are not medical reviewers, they do not replace named primary sources, and we disclose AI assistance on an article when it materially shaped the page.

Publication approval remains with Afters. Patient-story articles link to the original public discussion and the medical or professional references used for context so readers can inspect the evidence rather than relying on a hidden summary.

Where do the statistics come from?

Every platform statistic we publish — result counts, practice counts, metro breakdowns — is computed directly from the Afters database, refreshed nightly, and traceable to a query. External facts (safety data, national cost averages) cite named sources: ASPS surgeon-fee data, peer-reviewed literature. A number without a source is a guess, and we don’t publish guesses.

Our national cost ranges are researched figures. Where we ever show modeled estimates (derived math rather than measured prices), we label them as modeled — and we do not publish city-level modeled prices as data.

What does a published result establish?

A published result is attached to the practice profile that supplied or published it. Afters does not currently independently verify the treating clinician, patient consent record, image history, or clinical outcome for every result, so we do not use publication as a substitute for those checks.

Practices cannot pay for organic feed ranking. Patients should ask the practice about authorship and consent, independently verify clinician credentials, and report questionable content. The full explanation is on our methodology page.

How is medical accuracy handled?

We write about risks plainly, name the honest downsides of procedures (scars, recovery, longevity limits), and skip superlatives like "best surgeon." Cosmetic surgery content is health content, and we would rather lose the click than shade the truth.

Nothing on Afters is medical advice. A source-backed editorial article is not the same as a medical review, and we only use “medically reviewed by” when a real, named clinician has reviewed that specific page. Decisions about surgery belong in a consultation with a licensed clinician.

How do corrections work?

When we find an error — ourselves, or via a reader or practice report — we correct the page and its underlying data promptly, on the record. Practices can claim their profile to correct facts directly, and contested claims are suppressed while under review.