Ironically titled online community RealSelf just raised $40m to help people learn about cosmetic procedures like plastic surgery and Botox.
As more and more people go under the knife, the platform encourages users to anonymously post before and after pictures of their procedures, ask each other questions, and write reviews of doctors and procedures.
Is there a need for this?
Well, given that there’s an entire TV series devoted solely to people’s plastic surgery horror stories, a little open discourse could probably go a long way.
As TechCrunch points out, people have historically been hesitant to talk openly about getting work done — but, as a result, shady doctors have taken advantage of people’s ignorance and profited off the lack of transparency.
And plastic surgery is only getting more popular
According to the American Society of Plastic Surgeons, last year nearly 18m cosmetic procedures were performed in the US alone, and Americans spent over $16B on nips n’ tucks in 2016.
For its part, the platform has seen a 270% increase in web traffic in the past 5 years to hit 94m global visitors in 2017 — all in pursuit of their “real selves.”
