How We Source
The rule that governs every page: no citation, no claim. Every clinical number on this site is attributed by name to the document that measured it — an FDA label, a peer-reviewed study, or a named professional society. Nothing here is based on personal experience, because nobody associated with this publication received or performed any of these treatments. And nothing here is medical advice.
What we never claim
This publication makes no first-person experience claims of any kind. Nobody here has been injected with botulinum toxin or filler, been treated with a laser, IPL, or RF microneedling device, or received PRP — and nobody here has administered any of those treatments to anyone. You will never read "we tried it" on this site, because we did not. You will never see before-and-after photographs, real or generated, because we produced none. The Federal Trade Commission's rule on reviews and testimonials, 16 CFR 465.2(a), prohibits writing a review that misrepresents the reviewer's experience; we treat that not as a constraint to work around but as the correct standard for a publication like this one.
What we cite instead
Since we have no clinical experience to report, every claim rests on sources that do:
- FDA labeling and communications — prescribing information, device approval and clearance records, safety communications, and warning letters.
- Peer-reviewed literature — randomized controlled trials, systematic reviews, and meta-analyses, linked to the primary record (PubMed, Cochrane), never to another blog's summary of them.
- Government health agencies — CDC investigations and outbreak reports, state medical board guidance and enforcement records.
- Named professional societies — the American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS), the American Society for Dermatologic Surgery (ASDS), and the American Academy of Dermatology (AAD), including ASPS national fee surveys for cost figures — always labeled as physician-fee averages that understate all-in prices.
The phrases "studies show" and "experts agree" are banned on this site. A claim either names its source in the sentence that makes it, or it does not appear.
The certainty ladder
Evidence comes in grades, and our verbs are calibrated to them. The same ladder applies on every page, marked with the same chips:
| Grade | Verbs we use | What it takes |
|---|---|---|
| High | "is," "does," "reduces" | Concordant randomized trials or an FDA label |
| Moderate | "probably," "likely" | Good but limited trial evidence |
| Low | "may," "might" | Small or inconsistent studies |
| No reliable evidence | "there is no reliable evidence that" | Claims circulating without support |
Risks share the page with benefits
Every treatment article states risks on the same page as benefits, ranked from common to rare to catastrophic, without euphemism and without panic. Where a product is unapproved or counterfeit, we use the FDA's own epistemic frame: not "this is dangerous," but "nobody can tell you this is safe."
Nothing here is medical advice
The decision-maker is always a licensed clinician. This site is informational only. Whether a treatment is appropriate for you, at what dose, in which anatomy, and how a complication should be managed are individual medical judgments that cannot be made by a website — this one included. Our job is to equip that consultation, never to replace it. If you have symptoms that worry you after a treatment, contact the clinician who treated you, a board-certified physician, or emergency services.
Dating and updates
Evidence changes. Every article carries an "evidence reviewed to" date stamp stating when its sources were last checked, and an update log at the bottom recording what changed and when. Standing "what we don't know" sections state the open questions plainly rather than papering over them.
Independence and money
No clinic, device maker, or injectable brand pays this publication, and none has any input into what we write. The site recommends no provider and no city. If the site ever carries advertising, it will be display advertising that is visually separate from editorial content and clearly labeled; there are no affiliate links on this site. We publish no sponsored content.
Corrections
If we got a number, a citation, or a characterization wrong, we want to know. Write to us via the contact page; corrections are noted in the article's update log.