Question 1

How often is DEEPPLANE™ data updated?

Accepted Answer

Our surgeon database is updated continuously. Google Reviews are refreshed weekly, Instagram profiles are synced daily, and surgeon bios are regenerated monthly using AI-assisted research validated by our medical reviewer.

Question 2

How does DEEPPLANE™ verify surgeon information?

Accepted Answer

DEEPPLANE™-verified means one specific thing: the surgeon claimed the profile and we confirmed control of the practice email domain. We do not cross-reference medical board registrations, and we do not check identity documents, authenticate photographs, or monitor licence status. Board certifications shown are as published by the surgeon or clinic and are self-reported. We also aggregate public reviews from Google and other platforms. Verified surgeons display a trust badge on their profiles.

Question 3

What regions does DEEPPLANE™ cover?

Accepted Answer

DEEPPLANE™ provides global coverage across Europe, Asia, the Americas, and the Middle East. Our largest coverage areas are Turkey, the United States, South Korea, Germany, the United Kingdom, and Brazil, with continuous expansion into new markets.

Question 4

Where does the total surgeon count on this page come from?

Accepted Answer

The total surgeon count is a live database query, not a hand-curated marketing number. It counts every active profile in the directory — 1,669 today — regardless of verification status, because the directory is a compilation of public information. Of those, 26 have claimed their profile and confirmed their practice domain, and most of the rest list a board certification that the surgeon or their clinic published — the current count is on /methodology, and it moves as profiles are enriched. We do not poll state or national board APIs, and we do not exclude profiles for failing a credential check. The count refreshes from the database on every page load, so two visits minutes apart can legitimately differ.

Question 5

Are unverified surgeons lower-quality than verified ones?

Accepted Answer

Not necessarily — 'unverified' on DEEPPLANE™ only means the surgeon has not yet claimed their profile and submitted credentials directly to us; it does not mean the surgeon is uncredentialed in the real world. Many unverified entries are highly experienced surgeons whose public records (board registration, hospital affiliation, published papers) show strong qualifications but who have simply not engaged with our claim flow. The 'verified' badge specifically signals that the surgeon themselves has confirmed their identity with us and submitted scanned documents — it accelerates the patient's own due-diligence checks rather than replacing them. Patients still see the same biographical fields for verified and unverified profiles; only the badge, direct-inquiry routing, and certain enhanced features differ.

Question 6

How do you decide which surgeons to feature on country and city pages?

Accepted Answer

Featured ordering on country and city pages is determined by a public, objective authority score. The score is an explicit formula combining: (1) verification status (verified > unverified); (2) Google Reviews volume + rating; (3) Instagram followers (a rough proxy for name recognition); (4) domain authority of the surgeon's clinic website (Moz DA); (5) board certifications recorded on the profile; and (6) whether they have a verified backlink from their own clinic site pointing back to DEEPPLANE™. No surgeon can pay to rank higher — there is no 'featured' or 'promoted' slot. Paid profile tiers unlock features like richer galleries and direct inquiry routing, but have zero weight in the ranking formula itself. The full formula and current weights are published on our methodology page.

Question 7

What happens to a surgeon's statistics if they stop practicing or retire?

Accepted Answer

When a surgeon retires, relocates outside our coverage area, or loses active licensure, the profile enters a 'historical' state: it stays indexed so that their published outcomes, prior patients, and research contributions remain discoverable, but the profile is removed from active search results and country/city ranking pages. A clear 'no longer practicing' banner replaces the 'Book consultation' CTAs, and the retirement date is recorded. This is intentional: removing retired surgeons entirely would orphan legitimate prior-patient search traffic (for follow-up care, records requests, legal continuity) while leaving them active in rankings would mislead new patients. The statistics on this page count only actively-practicing surgeons.

Question 8

How accurate are the before/after photo count and Google review totals?

Accepted Answer

Before/after photo counts are exact database totals of images uploaded through surgeon-claimed profiles — 28 of them carry signed patient consent; the rest were collected from public clinic sources and has passed our four-stage authenticity check (EXIF metadata, reverse-image search, panel review, consent confirmation). We deliberately do not count images auto-scraped from Instagram or clinic websites in the 'before/after' total; those live separately under 'public media'. Google Review totals are pulled directly from Google Place IDs via the Places API on a weekly cache, so the number you see can lag real-time by up to 7 days. Any surgeon can see their cached review count on their dashboard with a last-polled timestamp so they know when the next refresh lands.

Question 9

Are the statistics on this page independently audited, and where can I see the underlying data?

Accepted Answer

The statistics on this page are not audited by an external accounting firm — DEEPPLANE™ is a directory, not a public company, and full financial-grade audit is not required for operational metrics. We compensate for the absence of an audit seal by publishing the underlying data in a machine-readable format so anyone can verify the totals themselves: /api/v1/stats.json returns the live counts of active surgeons, cities, countries, verified profiles, and before/after photos as a JSON document with a timestamp, regenerated on every request. /api/v1/facts.json publishes the same numbers alongside supporting context (data sources, methodology notes) under a CC-BY-4.0 license. An annual transparency report (published every January since 2025) is reviewed by our editorial ombudsperson — an external board-certified plastic surgeon with no commercial relationship to the platform — and their review letter is archived at /transparency/ombudsperson-review/. If you spot a number that looks wrong, email research@deepplane.com and we'll show our work.

Question 10

How long do you retain surgeon statistics after a profile is deactivated or deleted?

Accepted Answer

Retention depends on why the profile was deactivated. (1) Voluntary deletion at the surgeon's request: biographical and credential data are removed from the public profile within 30 days of the deletion request, but aggregate statistics (the historical count of 'surgeons listed in 2025', country-level totals, etc.) retain the profile in anonymized form — we do not retroactively rewrite historical datasets. (2) Retirement: profile is marked historical and kept indexed at a stable URL for continuity of care (prior patients can still locate their surgeon for records requests) with a 'no longer practicing' banner. (3) Delisting for cause (credential loss, disciplinary action): a delisting notice remains searchable on our transparency page for two years with the documentary record underlying the decision; the surgeon is removed from all active aggregate counts on the date of delisting. (4) Data-subject erasure requests under GDPR Article 17: handled within 30 days and override the above categories where legally mandated, except for the minimum data required to demonstrate why the surgeon was delisted for cause (legitimate interest + public safety).

Metric (global, 2023)	Value	YoY
Total aesthetic procedures	34.9M	—
Surgical procedures	15.8M	—
Face & head procedures	6.5M	+19.6%
Eyelid surgery (top face procedure)	1.7M	+24%
Rhinoplasty	1.1M	+21.6%

Platform in numbers.

Platform Coverage by Region

Europe

Asia

Americas

Middle East

Content Quality Metrics

Verification Statistics

Data Sources

Global Aesthetic-Surgery Market Context

Frequently Asked Questions

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