In today’s society, people of any age spent more and more hours on social media, especially on Instagram for young women who tend to be “inspired” of what they see online – setting a high bar of unrealistic expectations. Perfection sets to unbelievably 1000 per cent! With these unrealistic expectations, aesthetic and cosmetic medicine is not an exemption. Patients or clients would go to a cosmetic clinic with their aesthetic and cosmetic medicine knowledge acquired from Mr Google or the hope to look like the edited or filtered photos from Instagram or Snapchat.
Here are five things to keep in mind when considering cosmetic injectables
1. Health is wealth. The injector must be knowledgeable and regulated by The Cosmetic Physicians College of Australasia (CPCA) or The Australasian College of Cosmetic Surgery (ACCS). The reason for this is, if an injector who isn’t regulated, that injector won’t take accountability of you, and will have no responsibility when something happens to you.
In 2017, a 35-year-old Jean Huang went into cardiac arrest while having a breast filler at a Sydney salon. Ms Huang was injected by a Chinese national who was not registered to practice medicine in Australia. Dr Russell Knudson, from ACCS, advised, “If injectables are being done in a non-medical setting like a beauty salon or a *cosmetic party that we hear about, that is completely unacceptable. In other scenarios, inexperienced injectors treat clients by overcorrecting an area, sometimes by using the wrong amount of injectables or injecting the wrong area,” making you look older and sometimes your health is compromised.
Thus, choosing a Physician as your injector is much safer, and you will have peace of mind. In fact, you are trusting your health and any areas of your body to somebody else, why the risk for a lesser cost? Will it be worth it?
2. Have a realistic “beauty” mindset. Forget about the post you saw on social media; besides, perfection is boring! For the cosmetic procedure to be successful, both the physician and the client must have realistic expectations. It is important that you, the client, understands exactly what will happen during the procedure, how long the procedure is, recovery time, what are the potential complications, and what type of results are to be expected both immediately and over the long term.
The injector must be an expert in the cosmetic procedure being performed; hence, a physician as the injector is encouraged. As a client, you must be informed truthfully about that procedure and what to expect. It is important that the physician tells you the “least and the highest expectations” because results vary according to your anatomic and physiological response. As cited, “Well-informed clients or clients who understood the procedure and expectations are more likely to be happy with their results.”
3. Document the pre and post, while refraining your thoughts from adding a “unicorn” result. It is the responsibility of the treating physician and staff to be sure that you understand all aspects of the procedure before having treatment. This means it is documented, informed consent must be signed, and good clinical photographs must be taken. The before-and-after pictures may help, but it should be stressed that these photographs generally represent the best-case scenario for a procedure and that similar results may not be attained in each individual. Realistic pictures depicting what you may look like during the recovery period are essential for procedures that require downtime. Again, when you are disappointed after an aesthetic or cosmetic procedure, it is generally due to unrealistic expectations.
4. When unhappy with the result, go back to the cosmetic clinic. Don’t whine on social media with negative reviews! How would you as the client and your physician resolved any of your concerns if you don’t want to talk and refuse to listen? Generally speaking, when clients come back disappointed after an aesthetic or cosmetic procedure, it is usually due to unrealistic expectations. As the physician, it is essential to truly listen to clients and hear precisely why they are unhappy with their results. Once your physician understands precisely why you are upset, it is easier to guide the conversation to an acceptable conclusion.
According to Medscape.org, “Walking clients through the conversation about expectations and complications that you (hopefully) had before treatment generally helps. Many clients will say that they understood the pre-procedure conversation but were just hoping for more improvement or even change how they look. This realization alone will go a long way toward allowing them to feel better about the interaction. It may simply be that more treatments are necessary to attain the results that they are seeking. It is also helpful to bring out the photographs prior to the treatment or procedure. Clients frequently remember themselves in their younger years and may not recall exactly how they appeared before treatment. They also may only retain the most flattering photographs of themselves and use those for comparison. When you show them their post-procedure photographs and compare them with their pre-procedure photographs, many will be shocked at what a difference there actually is.”
5. Trust the leading cosmetic doctor in South Australia. She is Dr Rahma Targett! Dr Targett has the best approach in patient care and has the artistic skills, and the talent to execute “realistic” perfection. It requires talent to see what is best for the client’s physique. At Advanced Cosmetic Medicine, you are guaranteed safe, secure, and you get the “enhancement” you were seeking in a different but better perspective.
Visit us to get amazing results! Call us at 0403 690 031.
