Privacy Policy, User Content Guidelines, and Social Media Policy
Our Legal Terms.
Acceptance of Terms. The Aesthetic Society maintains TheAestheticSociety.org ("our website"), which is owned and operated by The American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery, Inc. ("we", "our" or "The Aesthetic Society"), an Internal Revenue Code 501(c)(6) not-for-profit trade association. Access to and use of our website, including any affiliated websites, podcasts, videos and products, is subject to these Terms and Conditions. BY ACCESSING OUR WEBSITE, SUCH AS BY CLICKING A "SUBMIT" OR “I ACCEPT” BUTTON ON ANY OF OUR FORMS, YOU ACCEPT, WITHOUT LIMITATION, ALL OF THESE TERMS AND CONDITIONS INCLUDING ALL OF THE DISCLAIMERS BELOW. We reserve the right to change these terms and conditions at any time. The changes will appear on this webpage. If our website contains additional terms and conditions, those terms and conditions shall apply to your use of our website in addition to these terms and conditions. In the event of a conflict with these terms and conditions, the more restrictive term and/or condition shall apply.
General Disclaimer. By using this site, you confirm you are at least 18 years of age. The information provided in this website is educational and is not a substitute for the advice of a qualified plastic surgeon. By entering this site, you agree to release, hold harmless, defend and indemnify The Aesthetic Society and the entire world from any claims related in any way to your use of our website.
Our Privacy Policy.
Non-Personal Information. If you browse our website or download information, we will gather and store certain information about your visit automatically. This information does not identify you personally. We automatically collect and store the internet domain, your IP address, your browser and operating system, the date and time, which pages you visit, and whether you are linking to us from another website. We use this information to learn about the number of visitors to our site and the types of technology our visitors use. We provide this same information to third parties who create statistics of visitor usage to help us improve our website. Your IP address also provides us with your city, but not your street address. We use this information to provide you with the names of local physicians when you use our Find-a-Surgeon feature.
Cookies. Cookies are small bits of information that are either used for the duration of a session, i.e., session cookies, or saved on your hard drive, in order to identify your preferences the next time you log on, i.e. persistent cookies. We do not use persistent cookies. We may use session cookies to provide you with streamlined navigation. We delete session cookies from our server after your session ends and we do not collect or save information from them.
Personal Information You Provide. We collect personally identifiable information when you have provided it to us, such as by sending an e-mail, by filling out a form and submitting it through our website, or by having previously registered for an educational plastic surgery meeting either hosted, sponsored or endorsed by us. We use that information to respond to your message, to help us provide you with the information and services that you request, and to notify you of future educational opportunities as well as products or services offered by our plastic surgery industry partners. When you click the "Submit" or “I Consent” button on any of our sites, you are voluntarily consenting to our use of the information you submit for these stated purposes.
Personal Information of The Aesthetic Society Members. If you are a member of The Aesthetic Society, we use your publicly available personally identifiable information as a matter of business necessity to notify you of educational opportunities as well as products or services offered by our plastic surgery industry partners. If you provide us with your financial information, we use it to process your request only, such as to pay your membership dues or register for educational events. We do not store your financial information, and we discard it as soon as we have completed your transaction.
Your Right to be Forgotten under the GDPR. You may contact us at [email protected] to request to see what personally identifiable information we have about you. If you are not a member of The Aesthetic Society, you may request that we delete such information about you, which we will do except for financial transactions, which we will keep for the time recommended by the Internal Revenue Service. Whether or not you are a member of The Aesthetic Society, you may also opt in or opt out from receiving future notifications from us about medical education or marketing opportunities.
Public Forums. If you voluntarily disclose personal information, such as your name or email address in a forum, chat room or on any other user-generated page on our website, your personal information can be viewed by the general public, you may be identified by search engines, and you may receive unsolicited contact by third parties. We advise that you not post any sensitive information in public forums on our website, including but not limited to our Ask-a-Surgeon feature.
User Content Guidelines.
The Aesthetic Society Website License. The Aesthetic Society grants you a personal, non-exclusive, non-transferable, revocable license to use our website to post original content that is legible, comprehensible, written in English, and true and correct in light of your knowledge, provided you abide by all of our Terms and Conditions.
Questions Policy. All website guests may post questions. Our goal is to review and respond, as needed, to all questions within five business days of submission. Questions from readers under the age of 13 will not be posted, due to the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA). We reserve the right to edit and post questions at our discretion.
News Brief Policy. We may post summaries of relevant stories found through various news and magazine outlets. The views expressed in these news articles and News Briefs do not necessarily reflect the opinions of The Aesthetic Society, but are published as an educational service.
The Aesthetic Society Member Video Guidelines. Members of The Aesthetic Society may submit videos for their Enhanced Practice Page websites. These videos must be in QuickTime format, VGA resolution or better, a maximum length of 2 minutes, with closed captioning, and delivered via www.acrobat.com with a link to the video for retrieval by The Aesthetic Society. Content must be consistent with these User Content Guidelines, The Aesthetic Society Code of Ethics, and The Aesthetic Society’s mission of education and patient safety.
The Aesthetic Society Member Photo Guidelines. The Aesthetic Society members may submit photographs for their Enhanced Practice Page websites. These photos must be in .jpg format with VGA resolution or better. We reserve the right to reject any photos where backgrounds, perspectives, resolutions, lighting, clothing, jewelry or expressions detract from or misrepresent the aesthetic result. We may, but without the obligation to do so, minimally alter submitted photos so as to achieve photographic uniformity, provided we can make such minimal alterations without affecting the aesthetic result. By submitting your photos, you give us permission to add copyright notices or watermarks to discourage photo piracy.
Your Participation. The Aesthetic Society does not and cannot review all communications and materials posted to or created by users accessing the site, and is not in any manner responsible for the content of these communications and materials. You acknowledge that by providing you with the ability to view and distribute user-generated content on the site, The Aesthetic Society is merely acting as a passive conduit for such distribution and is not undertaking any obligation or liability relating to any contents or activities on the site. However, The Aesthetic Society reserves the right in its sole discretion to block or remove communications or materials that it determines to be (a) abusive, defamatory, or obscene, (b) fraudulent, deceptive, or misleading, (c) in violation of a copyright, trademark or; other intellectual property right of another or (d) offensive or otherwise unacceptable.
Prohibited Content. Our website may include forums, chat rooms and other user-created pages that allow you to post information, provide feedback to us, and interact. You are fully responsible for any content you post or submit. You agree not to post or submit any fraudulent, unlawful, harmful, threatening, abusive, harassing, libelous or defamatory, vulgar, obscene, profane, hateful, racially, ethnically or otherwise objectionable material of any kind, including, but not limited to, any material which implies, accuses or encourages conduct that would constitute a criminal offense, hate speech, would violate the rights of others, or would otherwise violate any applicable local, state, national or international law. You also agree to not post or submit:
Any other person's personal information, including Protected Health Information;
Any commercial materials, including advertisements, spam, pyramid schemes, chain letters or other promotional materials;
Any content which contains viruses, worms, Trojan horses or any other contaminating or destructive features; or
Any message written anonymously or under a false name, or wherein you are impersonating any person or entity, such as astroturfing, or misrepresenting, either by commission or omission, yourself or your affiliation with another person or entity, or engaging in any other deceptive scheme or practice.
Conflicts of Interest. You agree to disclose any compensation, employment or affiliations which, when broadly viewed, could be construed as potential conflicts of interest, as required by the Federal Trade Commission’s Endorsement Guidelines.
Our Right to Edit. We reserve the right, in our sole discretion, but without obligation, to reject, edit, remove, or otherwise alter any content submitted or posted to our website.
Our Right to Use Your Content. By posting or submitting content to our website, you are granting us a royalty-free, perpetual, irrevocable, worldwide license to use, reproduce, sublicense, modify, publicly perform, display, translate, create derivative works from, incorporate into other The Aesthetic Society media and distribute your content, in whole or in part, in any form or technology now known or later developed. You are also authorizing us to publish your name, if you have provided it, and city, state and country in connection with our use of your content.
You Cannot Change Your Content. Once you irrevocably license your content to us by submitting it to our website, you cannot withdraw your license or change your content. You still own your content and may republish it elsewhere.
Social Media Policy.
The Aesthetic Society maintains a presence on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, LinkedIn and Pinterest. We encourage you to engage with us on such social media sites. However, you may only do so consistent with the blogging and posting policy above. We will delete or hide from view any posts which violate that policy, the terms and policies of the social media site, or which we otherwise deem inappropriate for our social media communities. If you violate these terms and conditions, we may also ban you from accessing our social media pages and/or report you to the social media site for further action.
General Terms and Conditions
Legal Effect of Clicking “I Consent” or "Submit." When you click “I Consent” or "Submit" on our website, you represent, warrant and covenant that you are agreeing to all of our Terms and Conditions, and you are at least eighteen years old.
Information You Receive From Our Website. You acknowledge that we are not responsible for the information available on our website forums, chat rooms and other user-generated pages and we do not represent or endorse the accuracy or reliability of any information available therein. Any opinions, advice, services, offers and other information disseminated through our website are those of their respective authors who are solely liable for their content. Some materials available on our website is the result of research or are contributed by independent individuals or organizations. The Aesthetic Society is not responsible for the accuracy or reliability of any data or conclusions reported in such materials.
News Brief Policy. Our website contains Plastic Surgery News Briefs that are summaries of relevant stories found through various news and magazine outlets. The views expressed in these news articles and News Briefs do not necessarily reflect the opinions of The Aesthetic Society, but are published as an educational service.
Advice You Receive from Ask-a-Surgeon. You acknowledge and agree that communications with Ask-a-Surgeon and other content providers through our website are not confidential and are not subject to any confidentiality privilege, such as doctor-patient. You may not ask our surgeons to express an opinion about specific doctors, engage in defamation, or request diagnoses or prescriptions. We shall edit any questions and responses as we deem necessary. All communications directly between you and Ask-a-Surgeon, and any reliance upon any such opinions, advice, statements, memorandums, or information shall be at your sole risk.
Our Website Is Not a Substitute for Medical Advice. Content on our website, including a response from Ask-a-Surgeon, is to be used for educational, research and general informational purposes only and never as a substitute for an in-person evaluation by a board-certified plastic surgeon member of The Aesthetic Society. Your use of any information provided on our website is solely at your own risk. Do not disregard, avoid or delay obtaining medical advice from your doctor because of something you have read on our website.
Endorsements. Our website contains references to, descriptions of, discussions about and links to many products, publications and services within the general field of aesthetic medicine. Such references do not imply endorsement by us unless expressly stated on our website.
OUR WEBSITE IS PROVIDED ON AN "AS IS" BASIS. OUR WEBSITE IS PROVIDED “AS IS” ON AN “AS AVAILABLE BASIS” WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EITHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT WILL THE AESTHETIC SOCIETY, ITS EMPLOYEES, OFFICERS, MEMBERS, AGENTS, CONTRACTORS, LICENSEES OR LICENSORS BE LIABLE FOR ANY SPECIAL, INCIDENTAL, INDIRECT, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES OF ANY KIND, OR ANY DAMAGES RESULTING FROM THE INABILITY TO USE, OR THE USE OF, OUR WEBSITE, WHETHER OR NOT YOU HAVE BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF DAMAGES, OR ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY ARISING OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE USE OR PERFORMANCE OF OUR WEBSITE.
Third Party Links. Our website may contain external links to other sites. We are not responsible for the content of any such linked websites. The Aesthetic Society does not control or guarantee the accuracy, relevance, timeliness, or completeness of information on other web sites, nor do we review or monitor any websites or other media linked to or available through our website. Links to particular items in hypertext are not intended as endorsements of any views expressed, products or services offered on outside sites, or the organizations sponsoring those sites.
Copyright Notice. Everything displayed on our website is our property and protected by copyright, trademark and other laws. This content is only for your personal, non-commercial use. Any use of our intellectual property in connection with the sale, distribution, or advertising of any goods or services is strictly prohibited, except with our express permission.
Intellectual Property Infringement Complaints. The Aesthetic Society respects the intellectual property ownership rights of others. If you believe your work has been reproduced on our website in a way that constitutes copyright infringement, please contact us at [email protected].
Your Indemnification of The Aesthetic Society. You agree to indemnify, defend and hold harmless The Aesthetic Society, which includes our officers, directors, owners, agents, information providers, affiliates, licensors and licensees, from and against any and all liability and costs, including, without limitation, reasonable attorneys' fees, incurred by us in connection with any claim arising out of any material that you post or transmit, or any breach of these Terms and Conditions by you or anyone acting at your direction. You shall cooperate fully and reasonably in the defense of any such claim.
Disputes. Any disputes arising out of or related to our Terms and Conditions or website shall be governed by, and construed and enforced in accordance with, the laws of the State of California. In the event of any such dispute, you irrevocably consent to exclusive jurisdiction and venue in the courts located in the State of California, County of Orange.
Modifications to our Website. We reserve the right at any time, and from time to time, to modify, suspend or discontinue, temporarily or permanently, our website, or any part of our website, with or without notice. You agree that we shall not be liable to you for any such action.