They call themselves dolls. These are cosmetic surgery patients who document their desires and results on Instagram, but only, most say, for other patients or prospective clients. They use names and hashtags that connect the work to their provider. So, for example, KathySmithDoll would be a woman who underwent surgery with a Dr. Kathy Smith.

In an era of patient empowerment, these pages — they’re called “Sx pages,” with “Sx” mimicking the prescriptive “Rx” — form a just-out-of-sight Instagram community. They serve as a cosmetic surgery shopping guide, a best-practices education system, and can also sound the alarm about bad experiences with practitioners. Some presurgery doll pages are more like inspiration pages or mood boards, collecting images of desired shapes.

Image An “Sx” Instagram bio, for a patient of Dr. Ghassan Mehio.

That way, “other girls doing research can find someone with a similar build to theirs and follow their journey for a glimpse at what they might look like if they got similar procedures,” said Tai Hall, a massage therapist in Maryland. On her Instagram, she showcases before-and-after body-contouring results; in her Facebook group, she teaches postoperative self-massage and how people can best take care of themselves while healing.