Oral and maxillofacial surgeons are now weighing in on facial surgery topics on RealSelf, a trusted online marketplace, where consumers from around the world go to learn about and share their experiences with elective cosmetic procedures and connect with providers.
Ms. Ezekwugo“RealSelf is always looking for ways to expand the community of providers to serve the 10 [million] visitors we get each month,” according to Maureen Ezekwugo, executive vice president of the Doctor Community at RealSelf. “As the number of oral and maxillofacial surgeons increased in our Doctor Community, we closely examined the specialty and training and chose to broaden their participation in the RealSelf community.”
The update, according to Ezekwugo, allows oral and maxillofacial surgeons to broaden their participation from orthognathic surgery to also include facial cosmetic surgeries — as these surgeries are covered in their postgraduate training and certifying exam.
In essence, oral and maxillofacial surgeons can now be featured for and comment on facial cosmetic procedures that they couldn’t weigh in on before, including brow lift, cheek lift, facelift, fat transfer and neck lift procedures.
Dr. Manolakakis“RealSelf is an amazing community where providers — experts-in the their respected fields — can provide answers, solutions, opinions and options for patients,” says Manolis G. Manolakakis, D.M.D., an oral and maxillofacial and fellowship trained facial cosmetic surgeon, who has offices in New York City and New Jersey. “The fact that RealSelf now allows oral and maxillofacial surgeons the ability to answer questions on facial cosmetic surgery topics validates the oral and maxillofacial surgery training, scope of practice and expertise, alongside our plastics, facial plastics [and] oculoplastics colleagues. It also validates our relevance in the facial cosmetic surgical space.”
It’s a positive move for consumers, according to Dr. Manolakakis, who says his specialty comes from a different cosmetic surgery background, which allows oral and maxillofacial surgeons to see things differently and share new perspectives.
“I plan to use RealSelf as an outlet to help answer questions that patients have and, hopefully, offer solid information in my area of facial cosmetic surgery,” he says.
RealSelf sends more than 500,000 contacts to providers each month. Doctors can sign up for a free profile or paid profile, which offers more features and visibility. Paid profiles get an average six times more contacts than free profiles, according to RealSelf statistics.
