Privacy Policy

1. Controller and Contact

The controller responsible for processing personal data on this website within the meaning of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is:

Dr. Dennis Kwiatkowski · Stolpmuender Weg 47g · 13503 Berlin · Germany · Email: info@acneinversa.life · Phone: +49 (0) 17632589560

If you have questions about how your data is handled, please contact us at the address above. Appointment of a Data Protection Officer is not required for this website under Art. 37 GDPR.

2. What Data Is Collected and Why

2.1 Hosting and Server Logs (Vercel)

This website is hosted by Vercel Inc., 340 Pine Street, Suite 701, San Francisco, CA 94104, USA. Every time you access a page, Vercel's infrastructure automatically records the following data in server logs:

• IP address (partially anonymized)
• Date and time of the request
• URL of the page accessed
• HTTP status code
• Volume of data transferred
• Browser type and version
• Operating system
• Referrer URL (the page that linked to ours)

Legal basis: Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR — our legitimate interest in the secure and reliable operation of this website. Retention period: server logs are retained for up to 30 days before automatic deletion.

2.2 Vercel Web Analytics

We use Vercel Web Analytics to understand how visitors interact with this site. Vercel Analytics is designed with privacy in mind: it sets no cookies, stores no personal identifiers, and does not track individual users across sessions. Data collected is aggregated and anonymized.

Aggregate data collected includes: page views, referrer source, country (derived from IP address at the network edge but not stored), browser family, and device type.

Vercel Web Analytics is activated only after you give consent via the cookie banner. Legal basis: Art. 6(1)(a) GDPR in conjunction with Section 25(1) TDDDG — your explicit consent, which you can withdraw at any time via the cookie settings in the footer. For further details see Vercel's privacy policy at vercel.com/legal/privacy-policy.

2.3 Vercel Speed Insights

We use Vercel Speed Insights to measure Core Web Vitals (page loading performance, interactivity, and visual stability). When you load a page, your browser sends performance metrics to Vercel. No cookies are set and no personal data is stored. Data is aggregated at the network edge before being reported.

Speed Insights is likewise activated only after you give consent via the cookie banner. Legal basis: Art. 6(1)(a) GDPR in conjunction with Section 25(1) TDDDG — your explicit consent, which you can withdraw at any time via the cookie settings in the footer.

2.4 Site Search

Our website search works locally in your browser. When you open search, your browser downloads a static search index from AcneInversa.life. Your search terms are matched against that index on your device. Search terms are not included in search-page URLs or transmitted to our server as part of a search request, and the page title of the results page does not contain them either.

If you choose to open the full results page, your query is temporarily stored in the session storage of your browser tab. The destination page reads the query and removes the temporary entry immediately after retrieval. The same happens when you switch the results page to the other language. If navigation is interrupted, the temporary entry may remain in that tab until it is cleared or the tab is closed. Entries older than two minutes are rejected by the application. If your browser blocks session storage, all results are shown directly in the search window instead and nothing is stored.

Older links that still contain a search term in the address (for example "/en/search/?q=…") are handled differently: when such a link is opened, the browser requests the full address, including the term, from our hosting provider before the page loads, so it can appear in the access logs described in section 2.1. The page then removes the term from the address bar immediately, and our website no longer creates such links.

Search terms are not included in our analytics events and are not used for advertising or profiling. Search-result pages carry a noindex directive. The short-lived storage entry is technically necessary to provide the full-results page you requested (Section 25(2) no. 2 TDDDG), so search works without an account and independently of analytics consent. We ask visitors not to enter names, addresses or other identifying information.

2.5 Contact by Email

If you contact us by email at info@acneinversa.life, the personal data you provide — including your name, email address, and message content — will be processed solely to handle your inquiry and not shared with third parties.

Legal basis: Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR — our legitimate interest in responding to editorial or general inquiries. Retention period: email correspondence is kept for as long as necessary to resolve your inquiry, and no longer than 3 years thereafter, unless statutory retention obligations apply.

2.6 Patient Story Submissions

If you submit a patient story, we process the information you provide in the form, including your email address, selected anonymity option, optional age band and country, and the health-related details contained in your story. This processing is based on your explicit consent under Art. 6(1)(a) and Art. 9(2)(a) GDPR.

Submissions are stored together with your consent record in a database for editorial review and forwarded by email through STRATO mail infrastructure to the editorial inbox. No email is sent to the address you provide at submission time; we contact you before any possible publication. Submissions pass automated safety checks and may additionally be reviewed with AI-assisted moderation run by the editorial team. Publication is not guaranteed, and published stories are edited to remove unnecessary identifiers. Retention: rejected submissions are automatically deleted after 90 days; submissions that are never processed are deleted after 12 months.

2.7 Specialist Directory: Submissions and Access Reports

If you submit an HS specialist profile as a physician or clinic representative, we process the information provided in the form, including private review contact details, public clinic contact details, specialty, address, postal code, consultation types, HS-related services, licensure notes, and consent records.

The submission is stored in a database as pending and may be sent by email to the editorial inbox for review. Only fields intended for publication are shown in the public directory after approval. Legal basis: Art. 6(1)(a) GDPR for consent-based publication and Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR for editorial review, verification, and abuse prevention.

Each directory listing also carries a short form for reporting outdated access information (for example a broken booking link or a changed referral requirement). This form requires no account and stores only the listing identifier, the selected issue category, an optional factual note of up to 300 characters, and a timestamp. It asks you not to enter names, diagnoses, appointment details, or other health information. Reports are read by the editorial team, are never published, and never change a listing automatically. Legal basis: Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR — keeping the directory accurate.

2.8 Trial Finder Postal Code Search

If you use the trial finder, your browser sends the entered German postal code to Zippopotam.us for geocoding and sends the resulting coordinates, radius, and Hidradenitis Suppurativa search query to ClinicalTrials.gov. Acne Inversa Life does not receive, store, or combine these searches. The finder also links to the European Medicines Agency's EU Clinical Trial Map and to individual records in the EU registry CTIS; no postal code, age, or search setting is passed to CTIS. If you open such a link, you leave this website and the EMA's own privacy terms apply.

Legal basis: Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR — our legitimate interest in providing the requested trial-search tool. Because the query relates to health-related content, please use the tool only if you are comfortable with these direct external requests.

2.9 Symptom Tracker (Optional Account)

If you create a symptom tracker account, we process your email address, a cryptographic hash of your password, your consent record (consent version, timestamp, and a salted hash of your IP address), and the health diary entries you choose to log — including pain, itching, swelling, lesion counts, drainage, fever, mobility, fatigue, wellbeing, mood, sleep, stress, affected body areas, triggers, and free-text notes. These entries are special-category health data within the meaning of Art. 9 GDPR.

Legal basis: your explicit consent under Art. 6(1)(a) and Art. 9(2)(a) GDPR, given at registration via mandatory consent checkboxes and recorded with a versioned consent text. You can withdraw your consent at any time by deleting your account in the tracker settings.

Storage and retention: tracker data is stored in a Neon PostgreSQL database and processed by Vercel serverless functions solely to provide the tracker to you. It is never used for advertising, profiling, or any other purpose. When you delete your account, all symptom entries are deleted immediately and the account record itself is permanently erased after a 30-day grace period by an automated retention job. Unverified registrations are automatically purged 30 days after the verification link expires; expired sessions and used password-reset tokens are cleaned up daily.

Your rights: you can export all of your entries as a JSON file at any time from within the tracker and delete individual entries or the entire account in the settings. To protect the service against abuse, registration, login, and submission endpoints use rate limiting; rate-limit counters reference your IP address and are automatically deleted within days.

2.10 HS at Work Record (Browser Only)

The "HS at Work" toolkit contains a private work-impact record. It needs no account and no sign-in. Everything you enter — dates, working hours, the effects and limitations you tick, your notes, the questions you select, your conversation answers and your draft message — is stored exclusively in your own browser's local storage on the device you are using. It is not transmitted to a server of this website, not written to any server log, not passed to Vercel Analytics, Speed Insights or any other analytics or advertising service, and not linked to any identifier. Analytics events from that page record only that a button was used, never any value you entered.

Because no entry is transmitted, we are not the controller for the content of your record, and no legal basis is required for it. The printable summary and the PDF download are generated in your browser; the PDF is never uploaded anywhere. You can erase everything at any time with the "Delete all entries" button on that page, or by clearing your browser's site data — after which the record cannot be recovered by you or by us. A notice above the first field asks you not to enter names or information about colleagues, customers or other people.

2.11 HS Support Card (Browser Only, Session Scoped)

The "Supporting Someone With HS" hub contains an optional support-card builder. It needs no account and no sign-in. Everything you select or type — the statements you tick, your own free text and the sharing options you enable — is held only in your own browser's session storage on the device you are using, and only while that browser tab is open. It is not transmitted to a server of this website, not written to any server log, not passed to Vercel Analytics, Speed Insights or any other analytics or advertising service, and not linked to any identifier. Analytics events from that page record only that a button was used, never any value you selected or entered.

There is deliberately no share link and no saved card: nothing you build there is ever given a URL, so no card can be found, indexed or opened by anyone else. Nothing is imported into the card from elsewhere on this site — no symptom-tracker entries, no medical history, no treatments or medicines, no clinical-trial information and no photographs. The preview, the copy function and the PDF download are produced in your browser; the PDF is never uploaded anywhere. Closing the tab erases everything, and the "Delete my answers" button erases it immediately. A notice above the first field points out that your choices may reveal personal information about your health and relationships, and asks you not to include anything you would not want another person to see.

2.12 HS, Shame & Stigma Conversation Builder (Browser Only, Never Persisted)

The "HS, Shame & Stigma" hub contains an optional conversation builder. It needs no account and no sign-in. Everything you select or type — the situation, where the pressure is coming from, what you want, and any draft text — is held only in memory in your browser tab while you use the page. Unlike the other browser-only tools on this site, nothing is written to local storage or session storage at all: reloading or closing the page clears it immediately, with no separate deletion step required. Nothing is transmitted to a server of this website, written to any server log, passed to Vercel Analytics, Speed Insights or any other analytics or advertising service, or linked to any identifier. Analytics events from that page record only that a button was used, never any value you selected or entered.

There is deliberately no share link: nothing you build there is ever given a URL, so no draft can be found, indexed or opened by anyone else. The preview, the copy function, the print function and the PDF download are produced in your browser; the PDF is never uploaded anywhere. The "Delete my answers" button clears everything on demand. A notice above the first field points out that your answers may reveal sensitive information about your health, body image and relationships, and asks you not to include anything about another person that you would not want in your draft.

2.13 HS Travel Planner (Browser Only, Storage Only on Request)

The "Travelling With HS" hub contains an optional travel planner. It needs no account and no sign-in. Everything you select or enter — how you are travelling, how long for, the broad region, the conditions you expect, which parts of your routine travel with you, the situations that are less comfortable for you, the quantities you type into the supply calculator and the items you tick off — is held in your browser while you use the page. It is not transmitted to a server of this website, not written to any server log, not passed to Vercel Analytics, Speed Insights or any other analytics or advertising service, and not linked to any identifier. Analytics events from that page record only that a button was used, never any answer, quantity or checklist line.

Nothing is written to your device unless you press "Save on this device". Only then is the plan stored in your own browser's local storage, so that you can reopen it while you are away; "Delete my plan" removes it again immediately, as does clearing your browser's site data. The planner deliberately does not ask for a city, an address, travel dates, a diagnosis or the name of any medicine, and it imports nothing from elsewhere on this site — no symptom-tracker entries, no medical history and no treatments. There is no share link: nothing you build there is ever given a URL. The printout, the copy function and the PDF download are produced in your browser; the PDF is never uploaded anywhere. A notice above the first question points out that your choices may reveal information about your health and asks you not to enter medicine names or exact destinations unless you want them in your own checklist.

2.14 School Support Card (Browser Only, Not Stored Beyond the Tab)

The "HS for Teens" hub contains an optional school support card. Because that hub is written for readers who may be minors, it is deliberately stricter than the rest of this website. It needs no account and no sign-in, and it asks for no name, no age, no date of birth, no school, no class, no teacher, no place of residence, no body location, no medicine and no photograph — none of which a school needs in order to agree to a bathroom break. There is no free-text field on the page at all, so nothing of that kind can be entered by accident.

What you select — which situations are difficult at school, how much you want the school to be told, and which optional sentences you add — is held in your browser only. It is not transmitted to a server of this website, not written to any server log, not passed to Vercel Analytics, Speed Insights or any other analytics or advertising service, and not linked to any identifier. Analytics events from that page record only that a button was used, never a selection, a disclosure level or a line of the card. Your selections are kept in your browser's session storage and are gone when you close the tab; "Delete my answers" removes them immediately. There is no share link: the card is never given a URL. The preview, the copy function, the print function and the PDF download are produced in your browser; the PDF is never uploaded anywhere.

2.15 Pain Discussion Sheet (Browser Only, Nothing Stored At All)

The "HS and pain" hub contains an optional tool for describing pain. It needs no account and no sign-in, and it asks for no name, no date of birth, no address, no date, no diagnosis and no medicine name. Two optional free-text fields let you write, in your own words, what the pain currently prevents and what you want to ask; both are limited in length, and the page asks you not to enter other people's names.

What you select and write — the affected area, the words you choose for the pain, your 0–10 rating, the pattern, what it affects, what has already been tried and your question — is held only in the memory of the open browser tab. It is not transmitted to a server of this website, not written to any server log, not passed to Vercel Analytics, Speed Insights or any other analytics or advertising service, and not linked to any identifier. Analytics events from that page record only that a button was used, never an answer, a body location, a rating or a line of your sheet.

This tool is stricter than the other browser-based tools on this website: it uses no local storage and no session storage, so nothing is written to your device at all. Reloading or closing the page therefore erases everything, and "Delete my answers" does the same on demand. There is no share link: the sheet is never given a URL. The sheet, the copy function, the print function and the PDF download are produced in your browser; the PDF is never uploaded anywhere. If you want to keep your sheet, you have to print or save it yourself.

2.16 Whole-Health Discussion Sheet (Browser Only, Never Persisted)

The "HS Whole-Health Check" contains an optional discussion sheet for your next appointment. It needs no account and no sign-in. What you select there — which routine health topics you want to sort out, and which digestive, joint, menstrual or mental-health symptoms you want to mention — is held only in memory in your browser tab while you use the page. As with the conversation builder, nothing is written to local storage or session storage at all: reloading or closing the page clears it immediately, with no separate deletion step required. Nothing is transmitted to a server of this website, written to any server log, passed to Vercel Analytics, Speed Insights or any other analytics or advertising service, or linked to any identifier. Analytics events from that page record only that a button was used or that a sheet was built — never which topic, symptom or section it contains.

The page asks for no name, date of birth, diagnosis, laboratory value, medicine or body location, and it has no free-text field, so none of that can be entered by accident. It imports nothing from elsewhere on this site — no symptom-tracker entries and no medical history. Your selections are never evaluated: the page produces no score, no risk estimate and no result, only a list of the points you chose to raise. There is no share link: nothing you build there is ever given a URL. The preview, the copy function, the print function and the PDF download are produced in your browser; the PDF is never uploaded anywhere. The "Delete my answers" button clears everything on demand. A notice above the first question points out that your selections may reveal sensitive health information and asks you not to enter details about other people.

2.17 Biologic-Start Checklist (Browser Only, Never Persisted)

"Before Your First Biologic Dose" contains an optional checklist for preparing to start a biologic for HS. It needs no account and no sign-in. What you select there — your prescribed medicine, current-health flags, tuberculosis screening and vaccination status, drug-specific medical history such as inflammatory bowel disease, heart failure, hepatitis B or fungal infections, your medication-list status, your baseline and your treatment priority — is held only in memory in your browser tab while you use the page. As with the other discussion sheets on this website, nothing is written to local storage or session storage at all: reloading or closing the page clears it immediately, with no separate deletion step required. Nothing is transmitted to a server of this website, written to any server log, passed to Vercel Analytics, Speed Insights or any other analytics or advertising service, or linked to any identifier. Analytics events from that page record only that a button was used or that a checklist was built — never which medicine, health flag, history item or baseline detail it contains.

The page asks for no name, date of birth, laboratory value or free-text entry, so none of that can be entered by accident. It imports nothing from elsewhere on this site. Your selections are never evaluated: the checklist produces no score, no eligibility result and no statement that a biologic is safe or appropriate for you — only a list of what is already in place, what you may want to confirm, and questions to bring to your treatment team. There is no share link: nothing you build there is ever given a URL. The preview, the copy function, the print function and the PDF download are produced in your browser; the PDF is never uploaded anywhere. The "Delete my answers" button clears everything on demand. A notice above the first question points out that your selections may reveal sensitive health information and asks you not to enter details about other people.

2.18 My HS Flare Plan (Browser Only, Storage Only on Request)

"My HS Flare Plan" contains an optional tool for preparing a personal plan for a difficult flare. It needs no account and no sign-in. What you select or type there — your usual flare pattern, whether wound care, comfort measures, an acute pain plan, in-person procedures and a contact threshold are already agreed with your treatment team, the practical items and functional impacts you choose, and any contact name, phone number or note you add — is held in your browser while you use the page. It is not transmitted to a server of this website, not written to any server log, not passed to Vercel Analytics, Speed Insights or any other analytics or advertising service, and not linked to any identifier. Analytics events from that page record only that a button was used or that a plan was built — never a body area, a status, a supply item, a contact name, a phone number or a note.

Nothing is written to your device unless you press "Save on this device". Only then is the plan stored in your own browser's local storage, so that you can reopen it the next time you need it; "Delete my plan" removes it again immediately, as does clearing your browser's site data. The tool deliberately never asks for a medicine name, a dose or a wound-care instruction — only whether each topic is already agreed with your treatment team — and it imports nothing from elsewhere on this site, no symptom-tracker entries and no medical history. There is no share link: nothing you build there is ever given a URL. The printout, the copy function and the PDF download are produced in your browser; the PDF is never uploaded anywhere. A notice above the contact fields points out that these details stay only in your own browser and asks you not to enter anything about another person that you would not want kept on this device.

2.19 My HS Care Card (Browser Only, Storage Only on Request)

"My HS Care Card" contains an optional tool for building a short card to show an unfamiliar clinician during an unplanned urgent-care or emergency visit. It needs no account and no sign-in. What you select or type there — your diagnosis status, where HS usually affects you, its usual features, what feels different today, any current treatment, any past procedure, and any dermatology contact you add — is held in your browser while you use the page. It is not transmitted to a server of this website, not written to any server log, not passed to Vercel Analytics, Speed Insights or any other analytics or advertising service, and not linked to any identifier. Analytics events from that page record only that a button was used or that a card was built — never a diagnosis status, a body area, a treatment name, a procedure, a clinician name or a phone number.

Nothing is written to your device unless you press "Save on this device". Only then is the card stored in your own browser's local storage, so that you can reopen and update it later; "Delete my card" removes it again immediately, as does clearing your browser's site data. The card's QR code and link point to one fixed, clinician-facing information page and never encode anything you entered — even a lost, printed card cannot be scanned to reveal your answers. The tool deliberately never asks for a dose, never suggests a treatment, and never states that today's presentation is or is not an infection; it only presents what you enter, clearly labelled as patient-provided. There is no share link: nothing you build there is ever given a URL. The printout, the copy function and the PDF download are produced in your browser; the PDF is never uploaded anywhere.

2.20 Could This Be HS? Appointment Pack (Browser Only, Storage Only on Request)

"Could This Be HS? Appointment Pack" contains an optional tool for organizing a recurring, not-yet-diagnosed pattern of skin changes into a one-page summary for a clinician. It needs no account and no sign-in. What you select or type there — the kinds of skin changes you have noticed, the body areas affected, whether they recur in the same area, how often and whether at least two episodes happened in the last six months, up to five short timeline entries, what previous clinicians have called these problems, what treatment has already happened, whether you have dated photos to show yourself, the daily-life impact you select, and the appointment question you choose — is held in your browser while you use the page. It is not transmitted to a server of this website, not written to any server log, not passed to Vercel Analytics, Speed Insights or any other analytics or advertising service, and not linked to any identifier. Analytics events from that page record only that a button was used or that a summary was built — never a lesion type, a body area, a timeline entry, a previous label, a treatment, a photo status or an impact.

Nothing is written to your device unless you press "Save on this device". Only then is the summary stored in your own browser's local storage, so that you can reopen and update it later; "Delete my summary" removes it again immediately, as does clearing your browser's site data. The tool never asks for or accepts a photo upload — it only records whether you have photographs you may want to bring yourself. It deliberately never calculates a probability, never ranks conditions against each other and never states a diagnosis; it only organizes what you enter, clearly presented as patient-provided information for a clinician to evaluate. There is no share link: nothing you build there is ever given a URL. The printout, the copy function and the PDF download are produced in your browser; the PDF is never uploaded anywhere.

2.21 My Trial Watchlist (Browser Only, No Account)

The HS Clinical Trial Finder includes an optional "My Trial Watchlist" feature for saving studies you find and seeing, on a later visit, whether their public recruiting status or German study locations have changed. It needs no account and no sign-in. What is stored — the study's public ClinicalTrials.gov identifier (plus, where that public record lists one, the study's EU CT number from the EU's CTIS registry), its title, when you saved it, and the public trial fields you last saw (overall status, German recruiting status, the names of open German sites, and the registry's own last-updated date) — is written only to your own browser's local storage, never to a server of this website. It is not transmitted to a server of this website, not written to any server log, not passed to Vercel Analytics, Speed Insights or any other analytics or advertising service, and not linked to any identifier. Your postal code and age from the search form are never saved as part of a watchlist entry. Analytics events from this feature record only that a trial was saved, removed, or that the watchlist was opened — never a study identifier, a postal code, an age, or a location.

A trial is saved to your browser's local storage as soon as you confirm it in the one-time explanation shown the first time you use the feature; "Clear watchlist" removes all saved trials immediately, as does clearing your browser's site data, and each saved study can also be removed individually. To check for changes, the feature re-requests each saved study's current public record directly from ClinicalTrials.gov's own API when you open the Trial Finder — this happens only then, never on a recurring schedule and never in the background. The watchlist does not determine, score, or rank whether you are eligible for any study; it only compares public registry fields you already saw against their current values. If a saved study no longer appears in ClinicalTrials.gov's public data, the watchlist says so explicitly rather than assuming the study ended.

2.22 Studying With HS Planner (Browser Only, Nothing Stored At All)

The "Studying with HS" page contains an optional planner for preparing a conversation with a university's disability service or examination office. It needs no account and no sign-in, and it asks for no name, no date of birth, no university, no course of study, no body location and no medicine. There is no free-text field on the page, so nothing of that kind can be entered by accident.

What you select — which situations are difficult, where they matter, and whether the summary names the condition — is held only in the memory of the open browser tab. Nothing is written to local storage, session storage or cookies, so reloading the page or closing the tab clears it, and "Delete my answers" clears it immediately. It is not transmitted to a server of this website, not written to any server log, not passed to Vercel Analytics, Speed Insights or any other analytics or advertising service, and not linked to any identifier. Analytics events from that page record only that the planner was started or completed, or that a button was used — never a selection, a disclosure choice or a line of the summary. There is no share link: the summary is never given a URL. The preview, the copy function, the print function and the PDF download are produced in your browser; the PDF is never uploaded anywhere.

2.23 HS Dressings on Prescription Navigator (Browser Only, Nothing Stored At All)

The page "HS Dressings in Germany: Prescriptions, Costs and Health Insurance" contains an optional navigator for preparing a conversation about wound dressings with a practice, a pharmacy or medical-supply provider, or a health insurer. It needs no account and no sign-in, and it asks for no name, no health insurer, no body location, no wound description and no product. There is no free-text field on the page.

What you select — the practical dressing problems that apply, how you obtain dressings at the moment and what you want help with — is held only in the memory of the open browser tab. Nothing is written to local storage, session storage or cookies, so reloading the page or closing the tab clears it, and "Clear answers" clears it immediately. It is not transmitted to a server of this website, not written to any server log, not placed in the page address, not passed to Vercel Analytics, Speed Insights or any other analytics or advertising service, and not linked to any identifier. Analytics events from that page record only that the navigator was opened, that a checklist was created, or that the copy, print, appointment-folder or G-BA link was used — never a selection or a line of the checklist. Nothing is transferred to the appointment folder or to the symptom tracker. The checklist preview, the copy function and the print function run in your browser.

2.24 HS Costs & Co-payments Guide (Browser Only, Nothing Stored At All)

The page "HS Costs in Germany: Your Annual Statutory Co-payment Ceiling" contains an optional three-question flow for thinking about Germany's annual GKV co-payment ceiling (Belastungsgrenze), and a generated checklist of fixed questions for preparing a conversation with a health insurer. It needs no account and no sign-in, and it asks for no name, no insurer, no income, no Pflegegrad, no disability rating (GdB) and no health status beyond the three general questions on the page. There is no free-text field and no income calculator.

Your three answers are held only in the memory of the open browser tab. Nothing is written to local storage, session storage or cookies, so reloading the page or closing the tab clears them, and "Clear answers" clears them immediately. They are not transmitted to a server of this website, not written to any server log, not placed in the page address, not passed to Vercel Analytics, Speed Insights or any other analytics or advertising service, and not linked to any identifier. The generated checklist is fixed, reviewed text: it never varies by answer, so no answer of yours can appear in what is copied or printed. Analytics events from that page record only that the page was viewed, that the three-question flow was started, that a checklist was created, or that the copy, print or official-source link was used — never an answer or a line of the checklist. The checklist preview, the copy function and the print function run in your browser.

2.25 Swimming With HS Decision Guide (Browser Only, Nothing Stored At All)

The page "Swimming with Hidradenitis Suppurativa: Pools, Wounds & Safety" contains an optional three-question flow (where you plan to swim, what the HS area looks like today, and, when relevant, whether a wound can be completely covered) that returns general guidance to consider — never a personal medical clearance. It needs no account and no sign-in, and it asks for nothing beyond those selections. There is no free-text field.

Your selections are held only in the memory of the open browser tab. Nothing is written to local storage, session storage or cookies, so reloading the page or closing the tab clears them, and "Clear selections" clears them immediately. They are not transmitted to a server of this website, not written to any server log, not placed in the page address, not passed to Vercel Analytics, Speed Insights or any other analytics or advertising service, and not linked to any identifier. The before-swimming checklist is fixed, reviewed text: it never varies by your selections. Analytics events from that page record only that the page was viewed, that the flow was started, that guidance was generated, or that a wound-care, exercise or source link was used — never a selected water type, wound state or coverage answer.

2.26 Taking Over Your HS Care Handover Checklist (Browser Only, Nothing Stored At All)

The page "Turning 18 With Hidradenitis Suppurativa: Taking Over Your HS Care" in the HS for Teens section contains an optional five-step checklist for preparing the handover of HS care: who will look after me next, what information I want to collect, what I can already do myself, and which questions I have. It needs no account and no sign-in. It does not ask for an age, date of birth, name, school, clinic, medicine, body area or insurance number, and it has no free-text field, so none of that can be entered by accident. Every step can be skipped.

Your selections are held only in the memory of the open browser tab. Nothing is written to local storage, session storage or cookies, so reloading the page or closing the tab clears them, and "Start again" clears them immediately. They are not transmitted to a server of this website, not written to any server log, not placed in the page address, not passed to Vercel Analytics, Speed Insights or any other analytics or advertising service, and not linked to any identifier. There is no share link and no function that emails the summary or sends it to a clinic. Your selections are never evaluated: the page produces no score and no classification, only a list of things you may want to collect, practise or ask. The copy and print functions run in your browser. Analytics events from that page record only that the page was viewed, that the checklist was started, that a summary was created, copied or printed, or that a follow-on link was used — never an answer, a step or a line of the summary. The follow-up question "Was anything missing?" consists of two buttons only and stores nothing.

3. Special Note: Health-Related Content

This website covers medical topics related to Acne Inversa (Hidradenitis Suppurativa). Under Art. 9 GDPR, health data is a special category requiring heightened protection. Browsing patterns on health-related pages may, in principle, allow inferences about a person's health condition.

We have selected tools specifically designed to minimize this risk:

• Vercel Analytics sets no cookies and stores no personal identifiers — aggregate data cannot be linked back to individuals
• Server logs are retained only briefly and are not used for profiling or behavioral analysis
• No behavioral tracking, remarketing pixels, or health-data profiling is performed
• No third-party advertising networks with cross-site tracking capabilities are integrated

If we ever integrate tools that could profile health-related browsing behavior, we will obtain explicit consent under Art. 9(2)(a) GDPR and update this policy accordingly.

4. Data Processors and Third-Party Services

We have entered into a Data Processing Agreement (DPA) with Vercel Inc. as required by Art. 28 GDPR. Vercel acts as a data processor on our behalf for hosting, analytics, and performance monitoring.

Vercel Inc. — 340 Pine Street, Suite 701, San Francisco, CA 94104, USA — provides: website hosting and CDN, Vercel Web Analytics, and Vercel Speed Insights. Privacy policy: vercel.com/legal/privacy-policy.

STRATO AG (Berlin, Germany) provides email mailbox and SMTP infrastructure for all transactional email sent from info@acneinversa.life: patient-story and specialist review notifications as well as symptom-tracker emails (verification links, password resets, account deletion confirmations). If AI-assisted moderation is enabled, the submitted story text may be processed by the configured AI provider solely for safety, privacy, and editorial review before publication. This policy will be updated if additional services are integrated.

Neon Inc. provides PostgreSQL database infrastructure for the symptom tracker (accounts, sessions, and health diary entries), for HS specialist profile submissions and the approved public directory, for patient story submissions, and for short-lived rate-limit counters. Private review fields are not exposed through the public directory API. Processing by Neon takes place under a data processing agreement pursuant to Art. 28 GDPR.

Zippopotam.us provides postal-code geocoding for the trial finder. ClinicalTrials.gov, operated by the U.S. National Library of Medicine, provides public clinical-trial registry data. These requests are made directly by your browser only after you submit the trial finder form.

5. International Data Transfers

Vercel Inc. is headquartered in the United States. Data transferred to Vercel is protected by the Standard Contractual Clauses (SCCs) approved by the European Commission under Art. 46(2)(c) GDPR, which provide an adequate level of data protection.

Vercel's Data Processing Agreement and transfer safeguards are documented at vercel.com/legal/dpa. If you use the trial finder, direct browser requests may also be sent to ClinicalTrials.gov in the United States and to the postal-code geocoding provider.

Database contents (symptom tracker, submissions) are stored with Neon in a European Union region. Neon Inc. is a US company; processing is covered by a Data Processing Agreement including the EU Standard Contractual Clauses (Art. 46(2)(c) GDPR). STRATO AG processes email within Germany.

6. Cookies and Tracking Technologies

This website uses no non-essential cookies. Your cookie consent decision is stored in your browser's localStorage, and a technically necessary session cookie is set only when you log in to the symptom tracker. In accordance with § 25 TDDDG, Vercel Analytics and Speed Insights are loaded only after you give consent via the cookie banner; details are described in the Cookie Policy.

Vercel Analytics and Vercel Speed Insights themselves set no cookies and store no personal identifiers — they are nevertheless loaded only with your consent. If additional services are ever added — for example, advertising or third-party analytics — this policy will be updated before those services are activated.

7. Links to Third-Party Websites

This website contains links to external sources, primarily medical and scientific publications. We are not responsible for the content or privacy practices of those websites. We recommend reviewing their privacy policies before submitting any personal data to them.

8. Your Rights Under GDPR

As a data subject, you have the following rights under the GDPR. To exercise any of these rights, please contact us at info@acneinversa.life.

• Right of access (Art. 15 GDPR): You may request confirmation of whether we process personal data about you, and receive a copy of that data.
• Right to rectification (Art. 16 GDPR): You may request correction of inaccurate or incomplete personal data.
• Right to erasure (Art. 17 GDPR): You may request deletion of your personal data where the legal grounds for processing no longer apply.
• Right to restriction of processing (Art. 18 GDPR): You may request that we restrict how we use your data in certain circumstances.
• Right to data portability (Art. 20 GDPR): Where processing is based on consent or a contract, you may request your data in a structured, machine-readable format.
• Right to object (Art. 21 GDPR): You may object at any time to processing based on Art. 6(1)(f) (legitimate interests). We will stop processing unless we demonstrate compelling legitimate grounds that override your interests.
• Right to withdraw consent (Art. 7(3) GDPR): Where processing is based on consent, you may withdraw it at any time without affecting the lawfulness of prior processing.
• Right to lodge a complaint (Art. 77 GDPR): You have the right to lodge a complaint with a data protection supervisory authority.

We will respond to requests without undue delay and within one month of receipt (Art. 12(3) GDPR). This period may be extended by two further months where necessary, with prior notification.

Can't access your account? If you cannot sign in to the symptom tracker but want to request deletion of your account and personal data, contact us at info@acneinversa.life. We may need to verify that the account belongs to you before acting on the request.

9. Supervisory Authority

The supervisory authority competent for this website is the Berlin Commissioner for Data Protection and Freedom of Information:

Berliner Beauftragte für Datenschutz und Informationsfreiheit · Friedrichstr. 219 · 10969 Berlin · Germany · Website: datenschutz-berlin.de

You have the right to lodge a complaint with this authority or with any other EU data protection supervisory authority (Art. 77 GDPR), in particular in the Member State of your habitual residence, place of work, or the place of the alleged infringement.

10. Changes to This Privacy Policy

We may update this privacy policy to reflect changes in our data processing practices, newly integrated services, or changes in applicable law. The current version is always published on this page. Material changes will be indicated by an updated effective date.

Effective date: October 2026.