26 Oct Aesthetic Consultations 101
Why Have a Consultation?
An aesthetic consultation is for your practitioner to understand what you’re looking to achieve. It also allows the patient to think about the procedure, go away and digest the information and make an informed decision.
We always recommend coming to a consultation with the specific concern you have, rather than leading with a set treatment. This way the practitioner can assess what treatment or treatment plan would be best suited to you, taking into account a variety of factors.
Consultation Red Flags
Short Consultation
Consultations should be in-depth, covering a wide range of information, not just the practitioner telling you about a treatment. The practitioner should ask about your lifestyle, wider health, upcoming plans, as well as any other treatment you have had or will be having. It also gives a great opportunity to get to know the practitioner and feel if you they are a fit for you.
It’s really important to feel you’ve been understood, you can ask any questions and that you trust your practitioner.
Financial Incentive
A practitioner who offers a financial incentive to have a treatment on the day is a red flag. Charging for a consultation is every practitioner’s right, however creating offers such as redeeming your consultation fee against the cost of treatment if you have it there and then, is not ok. This doesn’t allow for a cooling-off period, which is vital for a patient to make an informed decision about an elected medical treatment. It also doesn’t allow you to get other consultations.
Pointing Out Everything They Would Do To Your Face
This just feels like upselling to increase profits, and not having the patient’s wellbeing in mind. Every patient is an individual with their own unique beauty, and being prescriptive about beauty standards is not what we’re about.
It also seems quite a rude thing to do!!
What Not To Ask In A Consultation
Filler Packages
Asking for “snatched” packages and other buzzword techniques. Everyone responds differently to dermal fillers, and it’s not possible to say how much a face will “need”. An off-the-shelf filler package based upon a set amount of filler isn’t realistic.
The treatment is the treatment and it’s got nothing to do with the amount of mls.
Bring A Friend Discounts
We’ve seen offers for friends coming together to get a set amount of lip filler, at a heavy discount. This raises so many red flags to us, here are just a few:
- peer pressure is huge here, it’s not a situation for both patients to have a cooling off period where they decide what is best for them, as there’s a financial incentive to do it with a friend to get discounted treatment.
- again, this is working on a set amount of filler per person, rather than being led by how much is required to meet the patient’s expectations. This can lead to overfilling, or even underfilling.
- lip filler isn’t like getting your nails done. It’s a clinical environment, where the practitioner needs to concentrate on the patient in front of them. The patient too needs to be at ease with the practitioner, and to make sure they’re listening to aftercare and other vital information.
- with these kind of deals it suggests filler products are being used by more than one patient. This is absolutely not best practice and shouldn’t be encouraged.
What we offer at Renew Medical Aesthetics is a Refer A Friend scheme, which is our way of thanking our patients for recommending us to friends, in a no-pressure way.
Consultations at Renew Medical Aesthetics
At Renew, we offer free consultations, without pressure to book an appointment before you leave.
If you would like to speak to us, our number is 0330 111 8547.