Terms of use

Terms and conditions around the forum

These Terms of Use (‘Terms’) govern your use of the Website (‘Website’) and form a binding contractual agreement between you, the user of the Website and us, Online Forums Australia Pty Ltd trading as cosmeticjourney.com, the owner and operator of the Website.

By using the Website, you agree to be bound by these Terms and our Privacy Policy. If you do not agree to the Terms, you are not authorised to use the Website.

1. Important notice

1.1 The Website:

  • is intended for people who have attained the age of 18;
  • provides a discussion forum for persons who have had, or who are interested in having, cosmetic surgeries and procedures; and
  • is provided for information purposes only, and is not a substitute for a consultation or obtaining independent medical advice from a qualified healthcare professional.

1.2 We do not give any guarantees as to the suitability, safety or outcome of any cosmetic surgeries or procedures mentioned or discussed on the Website for any particular users. If you decide to engage any healthcare providers as a result of an introduction facilitated through the Website to advise on, or perform, any cosmetic surgeries or procedures, you do so solely at your own risk.

1.3 You should seek the advice of your qualified medical practitioner before acting on any information or content (including data, text, video, images, audio and other material) published on the Website (‘Content’).

2. Age and responsibility

The Website may only be used by persons who have attained the age of 18. By using the Website, you warrant that you are 18 years of age or over. If you are under the age of 18, you are not authorised to use the Website.

3. Registration of user account

3.1 When registering a user account, you will be asked to nominate a user name and password.

3.2 It is your responsibility to ensure that your user name, password and any other security information are kept secure. You must never disclose your password to anyone. If you do share your password or your personal information with others, you are responsible for all actions taken in the name of your account.

3.3 If you lose control of your password, you may lose control of your personal information and may be subject to legally binding actions taken on your behalf. You should immediately notify us and change your password if your password has been compromised in any way.

3.4 You must advise us of any change of name, address, or other details at your earliest convenience after the change. Changes to any of your details may be made [directly on the Website or by emailing us].

4. Prohibited use

4.1 You must not, at any time:

  • publish, communicate, translate or adapt any of the Content;
  • make copies in any form of all or parts of the Content other than as reasonably required for your personal non-commercial use;
  • reverse engineer, dissemble or decompile the Website or any part of the Website;
  • directly or indirectly, introduce or permit the introduction of, any virus, worm, trojan or other malicious code or item of a destructive nature in or on the Website (whether by submission of Contributions or otherwise) or in any way corrupt, degrade or disrupt the Website;
  • remove any copyright, trade mark, electronic rights management information or other proprietary rights notices contained in or on the Website; reformat or frame any part of the web pages that form part of the Website;
  • use the Website to violate the security of any computer network, to crack passwords or security encryption codes, or to transfer or store unlawful material (including, without limitation, material that is threatening or obscene); or
  • use the Website for any purpose that is unlawful, breaches any applicable code of conduct, infringes a third party’s rights or is otherwise prohibited by these Terms.

5. Posting content

5.1 You may only post content to the Website, including reviews, blogs, questions, answers and photos or videos (‘Contributions’), if you have registered a user account.

5.2 When posting any Contributions, you agree:

  • to only post Contributions that are relevant to the issues discussed on the Website;
  • to represent your own views and not impersonate or falsely represent any other person;
  • not to post Contributions for any purpose that is unlawful or prohibited by these Terms;
  • not to post Contributions that are inappropriate having regard to the purpose and objectives of the Website;
  • not to abuse, harass or threaten others;
  • not to make defamatory or libellous comments;
  • not to post any Contributions that are unlawful, fraudulent, inaccurate, false, misleading or deceptive;
  • not to use obscene, insulting, provocative, racist, sexist, homophobic, hateful or other offensive language;
  • not to post Contributions on the Website that you have copied from someone else;
  • not to post Contributions that would bring us, or the Website, into disrepute;not to post anything relating to any ongoing legal investigation or ongoing legal proceedings anywhere in the world;
  • and that no compensation will be paid to you in consideration for you Contributions.

6. No commercial use

6.1 You must not use the Website for commercial purposes, including to:

  • advertise or promote any business, products, services or procedures;
  • or solicit customers, whether for yourself or on behalf of someone else.

7. Reviews and other content relating to personal experiences

7.1 Without limiting sections 5and 6, you may only post reviews, blogs, questions, answers, photos, videos and other content relating to a healthcare provider (or the products, services or procedures provided by a healthcare provider) that are based on your true personal experiences.

7.2 You must not use the Website to post any reviews, questions, blogs or other content:

  • to praise, recommend, describe positive experiences with, or otherwise promote:
    • your business (or that of your employer or any of your clients); or
    • any of your products, services or procedures (or those of your employer or any of your clients); or
  • that are fabricated or exaggerate positive results.

8. Protecting your privacy

You agree that the posting of Contributions is voluntary and solely at your own risk and you acknowledge that your Contributions may include sensitive personal information about yourself and that it may be modified by us. You should not post any Contributions that:

  • contain personal information of others without their consent;
    contain personal information about yourself that you do not want others to know; or
  • may cause you or someone else personal damage if made public.

9. Complaints

9.1 We may monitor, review, vet, screen and validate Contributions, however we are under no obligation to do so. If you believe that any Contributions posted to the Website breach any of these Terms, including because they:

  • are unlawful, fraudulent, inaccurate, false, misleading or deceptive;
    are libellous or defamatory;
  • are abusive, harassing or threatening;
  • invade your privacy (or the privacy of someone else);
  • impersonate or falsely represent the views of someone else;
  • infringe your intellectual property rights (or the intellectual property rights of someone else); or
  • are otherwise offensive or inappropriate for any reason,
    (“Complaint”), please notify us at help@plasticsurgeryforum.com.au and provide us with sufficient information to contact you.

9.2 On receiving a Complaint, we will carry out investigations in relation to the Contributions the subject of the Complaint and take such action that we determine, in our sole discretion, is appropriate, which may include:
contacting you to discuss your concerns;

  • asking you to verify the basis of your Complaint (which may include asking you to provide a signed statement);
  • amending or removing the Contributions; and/or
    suspending or terminating the user account of, and/or access to the Website by, the person who posted the Contributions,
  • in accordance with section 10.

10. Editing of Contributions

Without limiting section 11, we reserve the right to (and you agree that we may) edit any of your Contributions that in our view do not comply with these Terms or are not readable:

  • so that they comply with these Terms; or
  • to make them more readable,
  • provided that we will not edit any Contributions so as to substantively change the intended meaning or underlying message.

11. Removal of Contributions and termination of access

11.1 We reserve the right to (and you agree that we may):

  • remove any Contributions from the Website or prevent any Contributions from appearing on the Website; and
  • suspend or terminate your user account and/or your access to the Website,
  • at any time and for any reason, in our absolute discretion, without notice or liability to you.

12. Ownership and licensing of Content

12.1 As between you and plasticsurgeryforum.com.au, we own the intellectual property rights in all Content, excluding Contributions.

12.2 You:

  • grant to us a worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free, perpetual, transferable and irrevocable right to use, reproduce, modify, communicate to the public, adapt, translate, distribute, publish, create derivative works from and display your Contributions in any media, in connection with the operation and promotion of the Website; and
  • voluntarily, unconditionally and irrevocably consent to all or any acts or omissions by us in relation to your Contributions which would, without this consent, otherwise infringe your moral rights in those Contributions.

13. You must ensure that you have the lawful right (including all necessary licences) to grant to us the licence set out in section 12.2.

14. Links to other websites

We may, from time to time, publish links to other third party websites on the Website (“Linked Site”). These links are provided for your convenience only and by accessing these Linked Sites, you agree to any terms of access or use imposed by those Linked Sites. We do not endorse any material on Linked Sites and do not provide any warranty, or assume any responsibility regarding the quality, accuracy, source, merchantability, fitness for purpose or any other aspect of the material on those websites, nor do we warrant that material on other websites does not infringe the intellectual property rights of any other person.

15. Disclaimer

15.1 The Website is made available to you on an “as is” and “as available” basis, and we make no representation, provide no express warranty or guarantee, and exclude all implied warranties (whether implied by statute or otherwise) about or in relation to:

  • the accuracy, quality, currency or reliability of the Content; or
  • the suitability or safety of any of the cosmetic surgeries and procedures, or other products or services mentioned or discussed on the Website.

15.2 Without limiting section

15.1, you acknowledge that information posted by healthcare professionals to the Website, including recommendations and answers posted in response to user questions:

  • constitutes the personal opinions of those healthcare providers (and are not necessarily the opinions of plasticsurgeryforum.com.au);
  • and does not constitute a medical consultation or medical advice.

15.3 To the extent permitted by law, you release us from any claims that you might otherwise have against us relating to the Website and/or your use of or reliance on any Content.

16. Website operation

16.1 We do not warrant that any of the functions contained in the Website or your access to the Website will be uninterrupted or error free, or that any outage notifications will be made in a timely manner, or at all.

16.2 It may be necessary to interrupt the services provided on the Website in order to upgrade or maintain them, or for other circumstances beyond our control. If we need to interrupt the availability of services on the Website, we will use our reasonable endeavours to minimise any interruption to the services.

16.3 We do not represent or warrant that the Website or the Content is free from computer viruses or any other defect or error which may affect your software or systems. You should protect your software and systems by installing and implementing your own security and system checks.

17. Liability

17.1 To the extent that you acquire goods or services from us as a consumer within the meaning of the Australian Consumer Law, you may have certain rights and remedies (including, without limitation, consumer guarantee rights) that cannot be excluded, restricted or modified by agreement. Nothing in this section 17operates to exclude, restrict or modify the application of any implied condition or warranty, provision, the exercise of any right or remedy, or the imposition of any liability under the Australian Consumer Law or any other statute where to do so would:

  • contravene that statute;
  • or cause any term of these Terms to be void,
    (“Non-excludable Obligation”).

17.2 Except in relation to Non-excludable Obligations, all conditions, warranties, guarantees, rights, remedies, liabilities or other terms that may be implied by custom, under the general law or by statute are expressly excluded under these Terms.

17.3 Except in relation to Non-excludable Obligations, our liability to you arising directly or indirectly under or in connection with the Website or these Terms and whether arising under any indemnity, statute, in tort (for negligence or otherwise), or on any other basis in law or equity is limited as follows:

  • we exclude all liability for loss of revenue, loss of goodwill, loss of customers, loss of capital, downtime costs, loss of profit, loss of or damage to reputation, loss under or in relation to any other contract, loss of data, loss of use of data, loss of anticipated savings or benefits, or any indirect, consequential or special loss, damage, cost or expense or other claims for consequential compensation, incurred by or awarded against you under or in any way connected with the Website or these Terms; and
  • our total aggregate liability under or in any way connected with the Website or these Terms is limited to AUD100.00.

17.4 In relation to Non-excludable Obligations (other than a guarantee as to title, encumbrances or quiet possession conferred by the Australian Consumer Law), except for goods or services of a kind ordinarily acquired for personal, domestic or household use or consumption (in respect of which our liability is not limited under these Terms), our liability to you for a failure to comply with any Non-excludable Obligation is limited to:

  • in the case of services, the cost of supplying the services again or payment of the cost of having the services supplied again; and
  • in the case of goods, the cost of replacing the goods, supplying equivalent goods or having the goods repaired, or payment of the cost of replacing the goods, supplying equivalent goods or having the goods repaired.

18. Indemnity

18.1 You indemnify and hold us, our employees, officers, agents, and contractors harmless from and against any claims, proceedings, actions, liabilities, costs, expense, loss or damage (“Loss”) suffered or incurred by any of those indemnified where such loss was caused, directly or indirectly, as a result of:

  • any breach by you of these Terms (or the conduct of any person accessing the Website through your user account which, if done by you, would constitute a breach by you of these Terms); or
  • any suit, claim or demand brought or made against us by or due to any Contributions posted by you (or by any other person through your user account).

19. Privacy

19.1 When you access the Website, personal information provided by you is collected by us. If you have any questions in relation to the treatment of your personal information or would like access to your personal information, please refer to our Privacy Policy.

19.2 You agree that we may contact you to provide you with information or comments about your use of the Website, to seek further information from you in respect of your use of the Website or for any other purpose that is consistent with the purposes of the Website.

20. General

20.1 We may change these Terms and/or our Privacy Policy from time to time. If we reasonably consider that the change is likely to:

  • benefit you or have a neutral or minor detrimental impact on you, we may change these Terms and/or our Privacy Policy by making such changes immediately without notifying you except by publishing these Terms and/or our Privacy Policy as amended on the Website; or
  • have a significant detrimental impact on you, we will make such changes to these Terms 10 days after we have notified you of those changes on the homepage of the Website.

If you do not accept a change made by the us to these Terms and/or our Privacy Policy, you must immediately cease using the Website.

20.2 You must not assign, sublicense or otherwise deal in any other way with any of your rights under these Terms.

20.3 If a provision of these Terms is invalid or unenforceable, it may be severed from these Terms and the remaining provisions of these Terms continue in force.

20.4 These Terms are governed by the laws of Victoria, Australia and you consent to the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of Victoria, Australia.

If you have any questions about these Terms, please contact us at help@plasticsurgeryforum.com.au

Terms and conditions around practitioner and facility directories

The PSF Practitioner and Facility Directory

1. Basic PSF directory listings:

  • Are billed monthly at $100 AUD per month (excluding GST if applicable) by credit card direct debit to practitioners.
  • Facilities and group practices are billed in the same way, with the monthly directory fee determined on application according to the size of the facility or group practice.
  • There is no lock in contract. A directory listing may be terminated by the practitioner or facility on request.

2. A Directory listing is viewable from anywhere the internet can be accessed.

3. The Directory tools permit the practitioner, facility or group practice to develop a market leading online profile if they and their practice utilize all the tools provided, and keep their directory site up to date and interesting. Please see our brochure to understand the tools provided.

4. Basic directory listings will be active as long as the practitioner or facility is in financial good standing with PSF and is otherwise in compliance with these Terms and Conditions. Your Directory listing and Profile will be deleted if you are more than 90 days in arrears.

5. Having a basic Directory listing entitles you to purchase premium exposure within your training and qualification scope of practice. Maintenance of a premium exposure is dependent upon remaining in good financial standing with the basic Directory listing and otherwise being in compliance with these Terms and Conditions.

The PSF Premium Exposure Program

  1. Practitioners and Facilities with active basic directory listings may apply for premium exposure.
  2. Premium exposure is a specific display of the practitioner or facility’s profile on active pages of PSF relevant to the premium exposure topic, as well as their directory listing. For example, if there is a forum thread actively discussing breast implant surgery, the practitioners with the premium slots for the region will be actively displayed on the web page where the thread is located.
  3. There are six premium exposure slots per topic per region.
  4. Regions are each state of Australia, the North and South islands of New Zealand and each SE Asian country.
  5. Practitioners may purchase slots in as many regions as they like.
  6. Pricing for premium slot is by each region, and is according to site traffic. As long as the practitioner maintains financial good standing with PSF and complies with the Terms and Conditions of the premium exposure, they may continue to occupy the premium slot indefinitely.
  7. Where practitioners desire a premium exposure slot but none are available at the time, a wait list will be maintained.

Eligibility Criteria for Basic Directory Listings:

Practitioners and Group Practices:

  1. Plastic Surgeons: Must be a registered specialist plastic surgeon in the country of practice and be practicing within specialist training scope of practice.
  2. Facial Plastic Surgeons: Must be registered specialist Ear Nose and Throat surgeon or Ophthalmologist in the country of origin, and be practicing within specialist training scope of practice.
  3. Cosmetic Physicians: Must be a registered medical practitioner in the country of practice and be working within the cosmetic physician scope of practice. Nurse practitioners are not eligible. Cosmetic Physicians performing surgery are not eligible.
  4. Cosmetic Dermatologists: Must be a registered specialist Dermatologist in the country of practice and be working within specialist training scope of practice. Cosmetic Dermatologists performing surgery are not eligible.
  5. Dentists: Must be a registered dentist in the country of practice.
  6. All practitioners profiles must be compliant with the laws and advertising regulations of the country of practice.

Facilities must utilize practitioners in the facility or group practice who meet the above practitioner criteria.

Eligibility for Premium Exposure Slots:

The premium slots of PSF are the most valuable real estate on the PSF site, both for practitioners and for the site owners. As the premium slot holders will be frequently exposed on the site, the holders will be expected to maintain an active, compliant profile and be good PSF citizens. The slots may only be purchased by practitioners actively working in scopes of practice in accord with their training.

If PSF deems a premium slot holder to be in breach of their commitment to compliance, or failing to maintain a current and active profile, the premium slot holder will be placed on notice to improve their profile. Of course, the better and more active the profile, the more benefit to the practitioner in any event.

Being on notice means that the practitioner may receive three warnings over a three month period to improve their profile. Failure to rectify to the satisfaction of PSF will mean that they will forfeit their premium slot, and it will be allocated to another practitioner on our wait list.

PSF would only expect to ever remove a premium slot from a practitioner if there is a failure to pay, failure to comply, or failure to maintain a reasonably active and current profile.

Validation of a practitioner’s initial eligibility for a premium slot will be confirmed after submission of their expression of interest.

Maintenance of the profile must be compliant with the laws and advertising regulations of the country of practice.

Other Key Terms and Conditions:

1. Relationship

In respect of Directory listings, where a practitioner includes a company (or other entity) as well as an individual practitioner, these Terms and Conditions apply to both the individual practitioner and the company/entity unless the context otherwise requires.

Nothing in these Terms and Conditions constitutes a relationship of trust, principal and agent, franchisor and franchisee, partnership or joint venture between PSF and the practitioner / facility.

2. Liability

(a) Except where to do so would contravene any law or cause any part of these Terms and Conditions to be void or unenforceable, PSF’s liability is limited to resupply of services and otherwise no more than the directory listing fees paid by the practitioner / facility in the previous 3 months.

(b) To the extent permitted online PSF is not liable for any consequential or any direct damages.

(c) The practitioner / facility indemnifies PSF and its officers, employees and agents and holds each of them harmless from all expenses, losses, claims, liabilities and damages that PSF may sustain or occur as a direct or indirect result of the practitioner/facility’s directory listing or any breach of these Terms and Conditions by the practitioner/facility or any of their officers, employees or agents.

3. Termination

Without limiting the circumstances in which a directory listing may be terminated by PSF as outlined above, PSF may terminate any listing immediately by notice to the practitioner/facility:

(a) if the practitioner/facility ceases to fulfill the eligibility or compliance requirements outlined in these Terms and Conditions;

(b) if in the opinion of PSF, the practitioner has committed an act or has done anything which may materially adversely affect the reputation of PSF or its branding.

(c) if the practitioner/facility becomes insolvent or bankrupt

(d) if the practitioner/facility breaches these Terms and Conditions and the practitioner / facility does not remedy the breach to PSF’s satisfaction within 14 days of receiving notice to do so.

4. General

Notwithstanding that PSF encourages applications for directory listing from all qualifying practitioners and facilities, for the avoidance of doubt PSF has the absolute discretion as to which practitioners/facilities it accepts as the holder of a directory listing. Without limiting any other right of PSF under these Terms and Conditions, PSF maintains at all time the unilateral right and discretion to withdraw a directory listing from any individual practitioner/facility. A determination by PSF in this regard will be communicated to the practitioner/facility and will not be subject to any challenge or review process. It is a fundamental term of each directory listing application that the applicant acknowledges this and releases PSF from any such process of review or debate regarding the termination of a listing.

These Terms and Conditions are in addition to the PSF website terms and conditions and Community Rules as displayed on the PSF website from time to time. Each practitioner/facility holding a directory listing is expected to fully comply with the website terms and conditions and Community Rules in addition to these Terms and Conditions. To the extent of any inconsistency between any of these terms PSF will have the final absolute determination as to which rules will apply.

As indicated above in these Terms and Conditions, compliance with all relevant laws and guidelines is expected at a minimum. In addition, Directory participants are required to behave ethically in relation to their interaction with PSF and its website. At a minimum, practitioners/facilities are required to comply with the ethical and behavioral obligations set out in the PSF website terms and conditions and Community Rules. PSF is not as concerned with isolated accidental errors on behavioral matters. However, without limiting any of its rights under these Terms and Conditions, PSF will be concerned and take action against consistent or repeated patterns of questionable ethical behaviour or legal compliance. At all times PSF will do all things necessary to maintain and protect its reputation and the integrity of its directories, listings and site information. These Terms and Conditions are a key element in ensuring that this occurs.

These Terms and Conditions constitute the entire agreement between the parties in connection with the subject matter.

These Terms and Conditions may only be altered in writing and signed by each party or otherwise may be altered by PSF unilaterally to the extent that PSF from time to time updates its Terms and Conditions for directory listings (in which case such altered Terms and Conditions will apply to all listing holders).

PSF has an unfettered right to appoint contractors and sub-contractors in relation to the business of PSF and to assign or transfer its rights or obligations under these Terms and Conditions. A practitioner/facility must not assign, transfer or encumber any of its rights or obligations under these Terms and Conditions without the prior written consent by PSF which may be withheld in its discretion.

These Terms and Conditions are governed by the laws of Victoria Australia.

If you have any questions about these Terms, please contact us at help@plasticsurgeryforum.com.au

PSF Background

Emily Scott, a private Australian citizen with no connection to the medical industry, founded this independent site in 2009. The site has been maintained as a free forum for the last 6 years.

Emily says:

‘It’s grown a lot, and I have wanted it taken to the next level. To do this, I have joined with some Australian business partners, and we can now launch a much bigger and better site. We’re already Australia’s leading plastic surgery forum. We will soon grow to become the leading information source and contact point for plastic and cosmetic surgery, non surgical treatments and dentistry in our region.

We are an independent business, with an objective of creating a fair and equal platform for the community and practitioners to share information in a healthy, legal and trusted environment.

PSF is not aligned with any medical group or organization. There is no doctor, surgeon or medical interest group with equity or ownership of PSF or the company which owns it, ‘Online Forums Australia Pty Ltd’.