Privacy Policy


This Privacy Policy was last updated on June 7, 2018.

This Privacy Policy is provided by the American Academy of Facial Plastics and Reconstructive Surgery (“AAFPRS,” “we,” “our,” or “us”). AAFPRS is committed to protecting and respecting your privacy and maintains this Privacy Policy to provide transparency concerning our collection, use, sharing, and safekeeping of your information and our use of “cookies” with respect to such information. This Privacy Policy also sets out your rights and the choices you have regarding our use of your information and how you can access and update such information. 

If you have any questions regarding this Privacy Policy and our privacy practices, please contact us at (703) 299-9291 or info@aafprs.org.
Collection and Use of Your Information

As part of our commitment to our customers’ privacy, we want you to be familiar with how we collect, use and disclose data.

This Privacy Policy applies to information collected from you in the operation of our services through: 

  • websites operated by us from which you are accessing this Privacy Policy, and any associated content, features and functionality made available on such websites;
  • our social media pages that we control from which you are accessing this Privacy Policy; and
  • HTML-formatted email messages that we send you that link to this Privacy Policy and through your communications with us (collectively, the “Services”).
By using our Services, you agree to the terms and conditions of this Privacy Policy, except that if you are a European Union resident or other data subject, your use of our Services, without your affirmative consent, does not constitute your consent to the practices described in this Privacy Policy.
How do we collect information from you?
We obtain information about you in the following ways:
  • directly from your verbal or written submission;
  • automatically through your use of the Services, which employ “cookie” technology (more information on our use of cookies can be found under the “Use of Cookies” section below); and
  • indirectly from third parties (please check any privacy policy provided to you where you give your data to a third party).
What type of information is collected from you?
The personal information we collect, store, and use might include:
  • your name and contact details (including postal address, email address, and telephone number);
  • information you share in contact forms about procedures and treatments you are interested in, as well as additional comments you may provide;
  • technical information about your activities on our Services, including the type of device you are using, your IP address and geographical location, browser and operating system being used to connect to the internet, the length of your visits to certain pages, the products and services that you view and/or search, and referral sources (i.e. how you were directed to our Services); and
  • any other personal information shared with us.

Data protection laws recognize certain categories of personal information as sensitive and therefore requiring greater protection, such as information about your health, ethnicity and religion.  We do not usually collect sensitive data about you unless there is a clear and valid reason for doing so and data protection laws allow us to do so.  Where appropriate, we will clarify why we are collecting this type of information and what it will be used for.
How and why is your information used?
We may use your information for a number of different purposes, which may include:
  • providing you with our Services, including products or information that you have asked for;
  • processing orders that you have submitted;
  • carrying out our obligations under any contracts that you have entered into with us;
  • keeping a record of your relationship with us;
  • conducting analysis and market research to improve our Services;
  • seeking your views or comments on our Services;
  • notifying you of changes to our Services; and
  • sending you communications that you have requested and that may be of interest to you. 
Who has access to your information?
We do not sell or rent your information to third parties. We also do not share your information with third parties for marketing purposes.

However, we may pass your information to our third-party service providers, suppliers, agents, subcontractors, and other associated organizations working on our behalf to further the purpose for which you have voluntarily provided us the information. When we share your information with these third parties working on our behalf, we disclose only the personal information that is necessary to deliver our Services to you and we have contracts in place with each such third party requiring such third party to keep your information secure and preventing such third party from using your information for its own direct marketing purposes. Please be reassured that we will not release your information to third parties for them to use for their own direct marketing purposes, unless you have requested us to do so, or we are required to do so by law.

Additionally, we reserve the right to transfer your personal information in the event we sell or transfer all or a portion of our business or assets, or merge with, another organization. Should such a sale, transfer, or merger occur, we will use reasonable efforts seeking to require that the transferee use your personal information in a manner that is consistent with this Privacy Policy.

Finally, we may disclose any personal information to law enforcement authorities or any regulatory or government authority in response to any request (including requests in connection with the investigation of any suspected illegal activities) or to enforce or apply our terms of use or to protect the rights, property or safety of our staff, supporters, customers, users of our Services or others. 
Links to Other Websites
In an attempt to provide increased value to users of our Services, our Services may contain links to third party websites that we do not control or maintain. This Privacy Policy applies only to your use of our Services‚ so we encourage you to read the privacy statements of all third party websites before submitting any personally identifiable information while using such third party websites. We are not responsible for the privacy policies and practices employed by any third party websites, even if you access such third party websites using links from our Services.

In addition, if you linked to our Services from a third party website, we are not responsible for the privacy policies and practices of the owners and operators of that third party website and recommend that you review the privacy policy of that third party website. 
Use of “Cookies”
As described above, we employ “cookie” technology to collect information when you access or use our Services. “Cookies” are small pieces of information stored on your hard drive allowing us to track your use of our Services when you visit and revisit our websites. For example, we use cookies to store your country preference. This helps us to deliver a better more personalized service when you browse our websites and improve our Services. The use of cookies in this manner complies with generally accepted programming standards and practices. However, you can choose to switch off cookies by setting your browser preferences, but please be advised that turning cookies off may result in a loss of functionality when using our Services.
Age Limitations
Our Services are intended for use by persons aged 18 or older. We do not knowingly allow use of Services by any person that we believe to be younger than 18. We also do not collect any personally identifiable information from any persons under the age of 18 and if we discover that we have been provided any such information, we will delete this information from our records.
Social Media
When you interact with us on social media platforms, such as Facebook and Twitter, we may obtain information about you (for example, when you publicly tag us in an event photo). The information we receive will depend on the privacy preferences you have set on those types of platforms.
Electronic Communications
You have a choice about whether or not you wish to receive information from us. If you do not want to receive direct marketing communications from us, then you can select your choices by ticking the relevant boxes situated on the form used to collect your information.

We’re committed to putting you in control of your data so you’re free to change your marketing preferences (including telling us that you don’t want to be contacted for marketing purposes) at any time. Feel free to contact us at (703) 299-9291 or info@aafprs.org to discuss your preferences.
Changes to This Privacy Policy
We reserve the right to modify this Privacy Policy, or any part of it, without notice at any time and for any reason. Whenever we revise this Privacy Policy, we will post the updated Privacy Policy on our websites, and we will note at the top of the Privacy Policy the date of the last update, which should alert you to changes in the Privacy Policy since your prior visit. 
Additional Notices to California Residents

Do-Not Track Disclosure
At this time, our Services are not set up to honor web browser do-not-track settings. 

Information on Marketing Disclosures
California Civil Code Section 1798.83 permits our users who are California residents to request and obtain from us once a year, free of charge, information about the personal information (if any) we disclosed to third parties for direct marketing purposes in the preceding calendar year. If applicable, this information would include a list of the categories of personal information that was shared and the names and addresses of all third parties with which we shared information in the immediately preceding calendar year. If you are a California resident and would like to make such a request, please submit your request in writing to us at: 310 S. Henry Street, Alexandria, VA 22314, USA.

Content Removal Requests for Users Under 18 Years Old
If you are a user under 18 years of age and reside in California, you may request and obtain removal of, content or information that you have posted on the Services. You may send us any such requests by one of the following methods: (i) by email (writing “Privacy Policy – Removal Request” in the subject line) at info@aafprs.org; or (ii) by writing to us at 310 S. Henry Street, Alexandria, VA 22314, USA. We will review the request and respond promptly. You should be aware that a request to remove content or information posted by you on the Services does not ensure or require complete or comprehensive removal of such content or information from our databases.
Additional Notices to European Union Residents and Other Data Subjects
The General Data Protection Regulation (the “GDPR”) affords European Union residents and other data subjects additional rights and protections with respect to the processing of personal information. 

Legal Bases for Processing Your Personal Information
When processing your personal information, we may rely on one or more of the following legal bases (or other available grounds), depending on the circumstances: 
•Legitimate Interests – We may process your personal information where we have a legitimate interest in such processing for managing, operating, or promoting our business, and that legitimate interest is not overridden by your interests, fundamental rights, or freedoms. 
•Specific Consent – We may process your personal information where we have obtained your specific, affirmative consent prior to the processing. 
•Performance of a Contract – We may process your personal information where such processing is necessary in connection with any contract that we have with you.
•Legal Obligation – We may process your personal information where such processing is required by applicable law.

Keeping Your Information Safe
When you give us personal information, we take steps to ensure that appropriate technical and organizational controls are in place to protect it.

Any sensitive information is encrypted and protected with SSL. When you are on a secure page, a lock icon will appear in your browser window.

Information you provide to us by email is transmitted normally over the Internet, and this can never be guaranteed to be 100% secure. As a result, while we strive to protect your personal information, we cannot guarantee the security of any information you transmit to us, and you do so at your own risk. Once we receive your information, we use reasonable efforts to ensure its security on our systems.

Retention of Your Information
We keep your information for as long as is reasonably necessary to accomplish the purposes for which we collected such personal information, including for the purposes of satisfying any professional, legal, accounting or reporting requirements to which we are subject. The length of time for which we retain your personal information is determined by operational and legal considerations. To determine the appropriate retention period for personal information, we consider the scope, nature, and sensitivity of the personal information, the potential risk of harm from unauthorized use or disclosure of the personal information, the purposes for which we collected and processed your information and whether we can achieve those purposes through other means, and any applicable legal and professional requirements. We review our retention periods on a regular basis.

Electronic Communications
Unless we have a separate legal basis upon which to send you marketing communications for our Services, we will only send you marketing communications by email, text and telephone if you have explicitly provided your prior consent. You may opt out of our marketing communications at any time by clicking the unsubscribe link at the end of our marketing emails.
Your Rights as a European Union Resident or Other Data Subject 
Under the GDPR, you have certain rights concerning the personal information that we hold about you, including the following: 
  • Right of Access – You have a right to be informed about what personal information we hold about you and to request a copy of this personal information, which we will provide you with unless legal exceptions apply.
  • Right to Rectification – You have the right to have inaccurate or incomplete information we hold about you corrected. The accuracy of your information is important to us so we’re working on ways to make it easier for you to review and correct the information that we hold about you.
  • Right to Erasure – In certain circumstances, you may ask us to delete some or all of your personal information that we hold about you.
  • Right to Complain – You have the right to lodge a complaint regarding the processing of your personal information to an applicable governmental or supervisory authority in your country.
  • Right to Withdraw Consent – Where processing of your personal information is based on your consent, you have the right to withdraw such consent at any time.
  • Right to Object – Where we rely on our legitimate interests to process your personal information, you have the right to object to such use and we are required to discontinue such processing unless we can demonstrate an overriding legitimate interest in such processing.
  • Right to Restriction – You have the right to request that we stop using your personal information in certain circumstances including if you believe that the personal information we hold about you is inaccurate or that we are not lawfully allowed to use such personal information. If you validly exercise this right, we will store your personal information and will not carry out any other processing until the dispute is resolved. 

If you want to exercise any of the above rights, please contact us at (703) 299-9291 or info@aafprs.org. We may be required to ask for further information and/or evidence of identity. We will endeavor to respond fully to all requests within one month of receipt of your request, however if we are unable to do so we will contact you with reasons for the delay.

Please note that exceptions apply to a number of these rights, and not all rights will be applicable in all circumstances.