The procedure first gained notoriety at the Pink Cheeks salon in Sherman Oaks, California. In 2005, an episode of Dr. 90210 made bleaching a national punch line. Still, face to face is the only local spa offering the service.

Ramirez already bleaches half a dozen anuses a week, but is the rest of New York ready?

Apparently not. One gym already asked him to take down the ad flyer. Rance Wright, creative director of the campaign, defends the ads as reflective of the services they sell. “We offer skin care,” he balks. “Skin care isn’t done with your clothes on.”

Jillian Wright, owner of Glow Skin Spa on Madison Avenue, thinks the treatment may be too eye-rollingly L.A.—see Strippercize and kaffiyeh-chic—to generate any serious buzz. “There’s no market for anal bleaching on the Upper East Side, unless I’m in the dark,” she muses. “No pun intended.”

Jose Serrano, a minister at St. Columba Church in Chelsea, says his mostly senior-citizen worshippers are not easily shocked. “Our neighborhood is flexible and open,” he says. “They would tell me if there is something here that is not good for young people—the last time, it was a gallery that wanted to depict Jesus in chocolate.”

Stephen Fleming is face to face’s webmaster and a walking billboard. “I’m like a girl who just got a boob job,” he laughs. “I’m constantly showing my ass off at parties, and friends are always like, ‘I’m jealous! I’m jealous!’ ”

Mark H., the Manhattan copywriter and critic behind copyranter.blogspot.com, says he’d love to see more local ads push the envelope: “It’s going to force mommies and daddies to answer some questions, but there are worse things your kids could know about than anal bleaching."

For more info, go to facetofacenyc.com.