What do Patients Think of Cosmetic Treatments ?

Nowadays the professional sphere is more and more intolerant to “flaws” and this extends to appearance. Thus esthetic medicine is here to respond to demand which is ever-growing, with more and more in terms of treatment possibilities. Many physicians (dermatologists, plastic surgeons, ophtalmologists, angiologists…) are allocatting more and more of their time in offering such procedures.

Classical non-invasive cosmetic treatments include botox injections, laser hair removal, hyaluronic acid injections, microdermabrasion and chemical peels. Women aged between 35 and 50 make up the majority of the patients.

There are more and more treatments available, they can be invasive, non invasive and can answer many concerns (body contouring, wrinkles, unwanted hair…). It is therefore a continuing medical education requirement for treatment providers to maintain knowledge of diagnostic, therapeutical options as well as the outcomes of such procedures…therefore it should be considered as such as a subspecialty (and regulated as such) with REAL credentials, REAL training and REAL conferences (Continuing Medical Education)

What does the client know…what does he think is possible in cosmetic treatments ?

In this study, the authors gave out a questionnaire to 200 subjects:
-comparison between 100 consecutive dermatology patients and 100 from the general population.
–Questionnaire details: “Demographic data and a total of 6 issues were collected, differentiating these subjects who had already performed some of these treatments or not.

• Within the group who had undergone some treatment the questions include: what specialist made it, whether he/she was or not satisfied with the results, what treatment was chosen and how many had done, how he/she had chosen the professional and if he/she knew all the treatments mentioned in the survey.
• Within the group that had not undergone any treatment the authors analyzed analyze: whether they knew all the procedures, if they’d like to receive any of them and which one, and what age they thought most appropriate for this.”

Results

A lot of respondents received no treatments…the main reasons are:
-price
-lack of knowledge of available techniques
-many patients believe that the treatments should be done above age 40 or 50

Comments
-Knowing what patients think is paramount to anticipating expectations to provide good service…a good seller needs to know what consumers want.
–There is no mention of fear of side effects or the questioning of competence.

Conclusion

• The good news is that patients trust doctors providing cosmetic treatments
• The bad news (for patients) is, that financial benefits are a temptation for many doctors to do a maximum of esthetically-oriented treatments.
• Judging by all that there is on offer, there is obviously a lack of regulation…doctors must never forget that they are trained in medicine, and they they need to respond profesionally to demands as such.

Reference: Poster 3473  – Merino de Paz N. Aesthetic Dermatology procedures. Do we know what patients think ?. AAD Annual Meeting 2016, Washington DC, USA (United States of America)