This page explains how content on Cosmetic Aftercare is researched, written, and maintained. It exists because the people reading this site are making real decisions about their health and recovery, and they deserve to know exactly what this site is and is not.

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Who We Are

Cosmetic Aftercare is an independent education and product recommendation site for people recovering from cosmetic procedures. It is not affiliated with any clinic, medical practice, aesthetic brand, or procedure provider. No clinic pays to appear on this site. No brand sponsors our content. No injector or surgeon has any editorial influence over what we publish.

Cosmetic Aftercare was founded by Carl Tucker, an experienced consumer research analyst, alongside a dedicated team of medical copyeditors and data researchers covering recovery and aftercare for cosmetic procedures: injectables, liposuction and body contouring, breast and facial surgery, energy devices, and the skincare that supports healing.

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How We Research

Every article on Cosmetic Aftercare is built on a research pass before a word is written. Our sources are:

Clinical aftercare protocols from board-certified plastic surgeons and dermatologists, including published guidelines from the American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS), the American Society for Dermatologic Surgery (ASDS), and equivalent international bodies.

Peer-reviewed literature where it exists and is relevant. We cite specific studies only when we have confirmed the study, the journal, the publication year, and the finding. If we cannot confirm a citation, we do not use it. We write the point as general clinical knowledge instead.

Published clinical recovery protocols from established plastic surgery and aesthetic medicine practices. These are used for timeline and aftercare guidance, cross-referenced across multiple sources before inclusion.

Pharmacovigilance data, FDA adverse event reporting, and published clinical trial results for articles covering medications and injectables including GLP-1 receptor agonists and botulinum toxin.

What We Do Not Use

We do not use anecdotal social media claims as the basis for clinical guidance. We do not cite studies we have not verified. We do not use AI-generated statistics. We do not accept data or claims from brands without independent verification. We do not use doctor quotes unless the quote is sourced to a named, board-certified clinician in a verifiable publication.

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What We Will Never Do

These are hard limits. Not guidelines. Not aspirations.

We will never invent a statistic, percentage, study name, journal citation, or clinical finding. If a number appears in an article, it comes from a verified source. If we cannot verify it, it does not appear.

We will never accept payment to recommend a specific product, clinic, injector, or procedure. No brand can pay to be featured positively. No clinic can pay to be recommended. No procedure provider has any commercial relationship with this site of any kind.

We will never publish sponsored content without clear and prominent disclosure. If a piece of content is ever sponsored — which has not happened as of the date of this page — it will be labelled explicitly and the sponsoring entity will be named.

We will never recommend a procedure or product that we believe poses unreasonable risk to the reader, even if that recommendation would generate revenue.

We will never soften a complication, downplay a risk, or omit a contraindication because it might discourage a reader from a procedure. The honest version of recovery — including what can go wrong and why — is the core of what this site does.

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Our Affiliate Relationships

Cosmetic Aftercare recommends products through affiliate programs. This means that if a reader clicks a product link and makes a purchase, this site may earn a commission from the retailer or brand. We are also enrolled in or applied to individual brand programs.

We are transparent about this because we think the alternative — pretending affiliate links do not exist — is less honest than explaining how they work.

Here is what affiliate relationships do not mean: they do not mean a product is recommended because it earns a commission. Editorial positions on every product category are formed independently. We regularly note when a product category is overhyped, when a branded version of a generic product is not worth the price, and when the honest answer is “you probably already own what you need.” These positions cost us affiliate revenue. We make them anyway because the trust is worth more than the transaction.

If we ever take on a direct sponsorship or paid partnership, it will be disclosed at the top of the relevant content with the sponsor named explicitly.

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How We Handle Errors and Updates

We get things wrong sometimes. When we do, we correct them without hiding that a correction was made.

If a factual error is identified in an article — a wrong timeline, an inaccurate statistic, a study misrepresented — the article is updated, the correction is noted at the bottom of the piece, and the error is not quietly deleted as if it never happened. This is what intellectual honesty looks like in practice.

Articles are reviewed when new clinical data becomes available, when published guidelines change, or when reader feedback identifies an error or omission. High-traffic articles are reviewed on an annual basis at minimum. The State of Aesthetic Recovery data page is updated annually upon release of new ASPS and ISAPS procedural statistics.

If you believe something on this site is factually incorrect, we want to know. Contact us at hello@cosmeticaftercare.com with the article URL and the specific claim you believe is wrong. We investigate every credible flag.

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A Note on GLP-1 and Medication Content

Several articles on this site cover GLP-1 receptor agonist medications including semaglutide, tirzepatide, and retatrutide. This content covers the aesthetic and skin-related side effects documented in published clinical trials. It is not medication advice.

We will never suggest adjusting, pausing, or stopping any medication. We will never suggest where to obtain prescription or investigational medications. All medication decisions belong with the prescribing physician. Our content on these topics exists to help people understand what the published clinical data shows about aesthetic and skin effects — not to guide medication management.

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At Cosmetic Aftercare, we believe in using technology to enhance user experience. We use advanced artificial intelligence models to assist with site architecture, data organization, and generating realistic conceptual imagery to make our guides visually accessible. Every clinical data point and recovery milestone published on this site is manually verified, cross-referenced against primary literature, and formatted by our team. This page was last reviewed in July 2026. If our standards change in a way that affects editorial independence or our approach to sourcing, this page will be updated to reflect that change.