RealSelf Reputation Management

RealSelf’s Worth It Rating is a percentage, not a star average. It’s the ratio of patients who rated a specific procedure "Worth It" versus "Not Worth It" — "Not Sure" responses are excluded from the calculation entirely. An 80% Worth It Rating means 4 out of 5 patients who weighed in said the procedure was worth it; it says nothing on its own about how many stars any individual review carried.

Separately, a RealSelf profile also shows a 1–5 star average built from the rating each patient leaves alongside their written review — a more conventional aggregate. RealSelf’s own guidance ties a provider’s Verified status in part to maintaining a qualifying average patient star rating, on top of its license and identity checks, so the two numbers can move independently of each other.

Both numbers are downstream of RealSelf’s moderation process: every review passes automated 24/7 screening plus review from a trained human moderator, reviewers must have no personal or staff connection to the provider, and reviews must run at least 200 characters. RealSelf does not require medical records or insurance documents to publish a review — an optional Verified Purchase badge exists separately and only requires uploading a receipt showing the provider’s name, proof of purchase, procedure, and date.