Consultation
A consultation is not a sales meeting with a face attached to it. It is the assessment that determines whether treatment is appropriate at all, which treatment, in what order, and at what dose. This is what a thorough one contains.
A full facial assessment at rest and in movement, a complete medical history, a discussion of what is realistically achievable, and a written plan setting out areas, product, quantity, cost and risks. Where a prescription-only medicine is involved, the prescriber must assess you in person before it can be prescribed for you.
Come with a list. Not of treatments, but of what actually bothers you and when you notice it. The line you see in the car mirror at four in the afternoon is more useful information than the name of a procedure you saw on a social feed.
You can judge a consultation by the questions you are asked, not only by the ones you are allowed to ask. These should come up without you raising them:
A practitioner who asks what would make you consider the treatment a failure is planning for the outcome. One who only asks how much you want to spend is planning for the invoice.
Every one of those questions should be welcomed. A practitioner who is irritated by them has answered the most important one already. Our guide to standards to expect from a clinic in Glasgow works through the verification steps in full.
There is no price list here, because a number without the assessment behind it is not information. Cost follows the plan, and the plan follows the assessment. A written quotation should state the product and quantity, the number of sessions where a course is proposed, whether review and adjustment are included, and what a complication would cost to manage. Where a figure looks unusually low, one of those has usually been removed. What drives the cost of treatment.
You should leave with the plan in writing, the aftercare in writing, and a clear route to reach someone if something changes. If you decide against treatment, nothing further happens. If you proceed, the first treatment is conservative by design and the result is judged at two weeks, once swelling has settled. Aftercare and follow up.
Common questions
Expect thirty to forty-five minutes for a first assessment. A face cannot be assessed properly in ten minutes, and a consultation that ends with a price before it has established your medical history has skipped the part that matters.
Not where a prescription-only medicine such as botulinum toxin is involved and it is your first assessment. The prescriber must see you in person, and there is a good reason to leave time between the plan and the consent. If you would rather be treated the same day for a treatment where that is appropriate, say so at the enquiry stage.
Practices differ. What matters is that you are told before you attend, and that the fee is not structured so that walking away costs you more than going ahead. Ask when you enquire.
That is a better starting point than arriving with a treatment already chosen. Describe what bothers you in your own words and let the assessment translate it into anatomy. Sometimes the answer is a treatment you had not considered, and sometimes it is none.
Yes. A second pair of ears is useful when you are being given a lot of information, and it makes it easier to think about the plan afterwards rather than deciding in the room.
Then that is the answer you get, in writing, with the reason. Being told no is not a failed consultation. It is the consultation working.
Enquiries
Tell us what concerns you and what you have had done before. You will get a considered reply setting out what an assessment would need to establish and which treatments are worth discussing.
hello@aestheticlaunchlab.comPlease do not send clinical photographs or medical records by email. If something has gone wrong after a procedure, contact the practitioner who treated you, or NHS 111 in Scotland, rather than waiting for a reply.