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Entering the Medical Aesthetic Industry: Be Realistic, not Pessimistic!

Be Realistic…but Stay Positive: You Can Do It!

There has been a trend recently to draw awareness to the fact that entering the Aesthetic Industry is not always plain sailing.

Quite rightly, skeptics have stressed the perils of skipping blindly away from your day job (which may have its downsides but nonetheless pays the bills, right?) after promises of reduced working hours, more input and creative freedom…not to mention money, money, money.

So, What Does it Take?

Let’s be sensible here: Everything in life, particularly with an economy like ours in the UK today, is what you make of it. As Elton John penned in “The Circle of Life”: Some will fall by the wayside, others will shoot to the stars. But a great deal in this industry comes down to:

a)having the required skillset to begin with. This is why the best training providers will, like Cosmetic Courses, only take on medical professionals. We talk about Insurance but this is a very real issue: if you can’t get insured after your training, you won’t get work, therefore it simply would not be fair for us to train you under false pretences. Also, we have found that professionals from roles like Nurses, Doctors and Dentists already have a high number of the skills required to make it in this sector. For more information on this, take a look at our brand new Transferable Skills pages for Doctors, Nurses and Dentists.

b)Ability to network. This is partially being in the right place at the right time, but largely putting yourself out there and making contacts, getting to know others within the industry who can recommend products and techniques, introduce clients…and possibly even provide jobs or partnerships! Self-promotion is absolutely vital so you do need a strong backbone and a creative streak (which of course you have already to be considering Aesthetics!). With online resources like Linked-In, Gumtree, Facebook and regular conferences to attend…the medical aesthetic world really is your oyster.

Market Yourself

To illustrate this point further, here is a real recent enquiry from a Delegate. This both shows the need to be realistic about the industry you are considering going into, and the things that can be done to ensure you give yourself the best chance possible:

Question:
Dear Cosmetic Courses,

I took a medical aesthetic training course in April 2010, and have yet to get my first client! I work full time, as a Practice Nurse, and realise I  may not have promoted myself enough. I have advertised myself in a local dentists, and beauty salon.

Answer from Libby Stewart, Cosmetic Courses Aesthetic RGN:

It can be difficult to get going with your practice.
You could consider holding an open evening at a salon or practice to inform potential patients of what treatments you can offer and how the treatments may work for them. People seem to need more than an advertisement to encourage them. Patients who are regulars to procedures are usually happy to stay with their existing practitioner unless something interests them to leave eg. your prices or they just like you better. Patients who are new to treatment and just considering it need a lot of encouragement and benefit from a good consultation so that you can establish a relationship with them.
Yes, the insurance has to be paid once you commence treatments but most of the companies allow for monthly payments that you can cancel at any time should you find this is not the right field for you. Remember that what initially looks like quite a mark up on product cost can seem less of a profit when you take purchase of product and consumables, paying yourself an houly rate, any rent or commission that you pay to a third party and insurance and training costs incurred by you into consideration. So the price you charge for your treatments should reflect all of these to make sure you still make a profit!

Cosmetic Courses are always on hand and happy to offer advice if you are Entering the Aesthetic Industry or about your Business and Marketing Strategy. 24 hour Advice is available through our Telephone Line, 01844 390110…simply leave your question and we will get in touch very quickly!

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Correcting Difficulties Smiling After Azzalure

Question :

Dear Cosmetic Courses,

I attended your basic and advanced courses in 2005.

I recently treated a 37 year old lady using Azzalure 3 x 0.1ml (15iu in 0.1ml) bilaterally to her orbicularis occuli. I performed my usual technique, injecting into the sites I usually inject into, and making sure I did not inject too low down on orbicularis occuli.

She came for review 2 weeks later, complaining of a heaviness over her cheeks making smiling difficult, more so on the right side.

Could you advise on any intervention that may alleviate this?

I have heard of practitioners advising stimulating the muscle using an electric tooth brush?

Answer :

It does sound like some of the Azzalure may be affecting your patient’s Zygomaticus Major or Minor.

This would cause the symptoms which you describe and is usually caused by the lowest of your crows feet injections.

We have seen this once before and it was caused by Dysport- there is some evidence that Dysport and Azzalure may disperse more than Botox making side effects like these more likely.

Unfortunately, there may not be much you can now do to alleviate it other than being supportive.

The electrical toothbrush trick may work and is certainly worthwhile trying, to both muscles 3 times a day for 5 minutes.

Good luck with this case and let us know how it goes.

The Cosmetic Courses Team

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Non-surgical & Surgical Procedures: Producing a harmonious youthful appearance to the face

The main factors that age the skin are sun damage, active lines (wrinkles), gravitational change from ageing and volume loss.

Each of these should be treated independently to produce a harmonious youthful appearance to the face.

Prevention is always better than cure and preventing sun damage is very important as this will maintain the quality of the skin. So make sure you tell all your clients to invest in a top Suncream like the Heliocare range…there’s no point paying out for regular Botox or Dermal Filler treatments, only to go and burn their skin causing sun spots, collagen loss and skin cancers!

Botox treatment is best used when active lines are beginning to form in the forehead crows feet and frown areas, normally at the age of mid 30’s. Botox is not so effective once the lines are actually formed.

Vaughn Changes can be treated with Dermafillers from mid 30’s when volume loss starts to appear.

If the volume loss is treated directly as it occurs much less dermal fillers are required than treating well established lines and a more natural look can be achieved.

Regarding ageing changes,  when these become too extreme for non-surgical treatment, these can be treated with surgery and in our opinion surgery should be reserved for most people from the age of 45 onwards. This is when the main gravitational changes to the face seem to occur and ,similarly, with dermal fillers small procedures preformed slightly more frequently give the best results to produce a natural harmonious appearance without dramatic changes to your client’s face.

Complimentary surgeries for people over the age of 45 include a MACS facelift (short scar facelift) to just elevate the cheeks and neck area in a natural fashion with minimal scarring.

Eyelid surgeries are very dependent on the appearance of eyelids: heavy upper eyelids can be treated anytime and produce a revitalized appearance to the eyes in a subtle fashion. Lower Eyelid surgery likewise can be very effective.

Overall if all 4 elements of facial changing / ageing are assessed separately and treated appropriately, facial ageing can be slowed and clients can achieve a very natural appearance rather than some of appearances we’ve seen from very un natural stretched facelift surgeries.

The overall message is prevention is better than cure and earlier treatment is better than late  treatment.

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Anti-Ageing for Men: What Doses?

In this blog we answer one of your most frequently asked questions, anti-ageing for men.anti ageing for men cosmetic courses

Question :

Dear Cosmetic Courses,

Please can you let me know the recommended doses for administering Botox to men? 

Answer :

Thank you for your email. We generally recommend you add 40% more Botox at each injecting site for men.

This will depend on how heavy you feel their muscles are. If you feel they have more than average muscle bulk, adjust this to 50% and if they are finer featured add 30%.

Unlimited support

Alongside our aesthetic training we also offer unlimited support to our delegates. Our team are always on hand to answer any questions or concerns you may have in regards to aesthetic medicine and your aesthetic business.

Anti-Ageing for men courses

We offer a wide variety of aesthetic medicine courses which cover anti-ageing for men. All of these courses contain theoretical sessions with our expert faculty and treatment practice on live models provided by us. We use a wide mix of models on our courses so you can understand how to treat each patient individually. You can view all of our practical courses here in aesthetic medicine. We also offer an online learning academy which demonstrates popular treatments, you can find out more here. 

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Cosmetic Podcasts in the UK for Practioners

Our site features a number of audio Cosmetic Podcasts concentrating on the medical aesthetics industry in the United Kingdom.

These Podcasts are completely free of charge and are also available on iTunes or through the Cosmetic Courses Cosmetic PodcastsFacebook page, http://www.facebook.com/CosmeticCourses.

The Podcasts concentrate on advice on how to set up your business on how to maintain your treatments and relationships with your patients, and how to develop and improve your cosmetic business.

It also include episodes of clinical techniques to ensure that cosmetic practitioners are using the most up to date techniques available.

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Bruising with Botox: Fake Botox products like Fabtox

Question :

Last week my mum had what she was told was Botox.

She has since found out it was a product called “Fabtox” (which I have never heard of): a bespoke product made up of Vistabel.

Within minutes her eye was swollen up and had started to go purple, now her cheek is swollen down to her chin. She has been to A&E and her GP who can’t do anything.

She had it done down at a dental/cosmetic studio in Shoreham near Brighton.

Have you ever seen anything like it?

Thanks so much

 

Answer :

It sounds as if the injection has hit one of the blood vessels which surrounds your mother’s eye.

The blood then moves inside the orbit and produces the bruise you see.

This bruising will settle over the next couple of weeks but it might be worthwhile asking her to massage Arnica cream into the bruised area daily.

Let us know how she gets on.

It is really very important that you research carefully into where you are going for your Botox treatments and the products which they use.

We hope that your mother gets better soon!

If she would prefer to enrol as a model with us in future, we can promise that we do not use any “Fabtox” products here and all our delegates are medical professionals, closely supervised by expert Aesthetic Practitioners. She can enrol by calling our team on 0845 230 4110 or find comfort in our other models’ testimonials at http://www.facebook.com/CCModels.

The Cosmetic Courses Team

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Practicing Botox & Dermal Fillers: Am I required to register with the Care Quality Commission?

Question :

Hi Cosmetic Courses,
I’m not sure whether you can help with this?

I have been asked by someone I will be working for, giving Botox /dermal filler injections, whether I am
registered with the Healthcare Commission.

Apparently this is a Commission for places rather than people / things and I was wondering whether I had to register here or if there was a Loop-hole around it?

Many thanks for your advice.

Answer :

You are right that the Healthcare Commission monitor premises rather than individuals.

If your future employers are a Medical Practice then they should be registered with them.

As you may know, Mr Adrian Richards of Cosmetic Courses does regular podcasts on topics such as this with Ron Myers from the Consulting rooms.

Ron is extremely knowledgeable about topics such as this so we will ask Ron for his opinion on your query.

Ron what are your views on this?

Ron Myers:  “Care Quality Commission registration should only apply (currently) if you are offering cosmetic surgery procedures (you should be fine if you only offer laser/IPl & injectables).”

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