You know where to go when you feel like improving your appearance – med spas, where they say they ensure effective and affordable service. Yet you should be aware that it is not so innocuous an enterprise as you may think.
Customers would be right to be careful
There is virtually nothing med spas won’t promise, short of sheer magic – they will take care of your wrinkles and age discolorations, get rid of your extra chin, let you run through procedures that are supposed to tighten your skin and perform other useful miracles. But the American Med Spa Association suggests you make sure that the spa of your choice is legal: about 50% of them aren’t. And these statistics carry an insidious meaning: you might end up with harmful injections and suffer from the Groupon in whose affordability you delighted.
So, there are things to be learnt about those med spas you are going to entrust your beauty and health to. The staff will never tell you the following facts.
There may be no doctor present
Medical spas, all out to charm you with comfortable interiors and laid-back music, also promise medical attention thrown in with complete relaxation. Nevertheless, not all the states stipulate that there must be a doctor on the premises; with many spas, there isn’t any, and if there is, they may turn up only if their services are strongly required.
Most likely you will be given the name of a doctor who is affiliated tot he institution, yet it doesn’t mean that he or she is always there to supervise the functionability. The good doctor’s appearances may be few and far between, solely for the purpose of signing the necessary documents. It’s a big question whether any supervising or training is actually going on.
You don’t really know who these people walking about in white overalls are. A uniform doesn’t make them full-fledged doctors and nurses.
They habitually shrug it off if a client’s embarrassed
Should any of the med spa’s procedures go wrong, the client turns to a dermatologist to put things right – most often in a flurried state. They often put failure down to their vanity that drove them to undergo the procedure, they believe they failed with their spa homework, and the idea that the spa may be in fault remains far at the back of their heads. Although there are many cases of lawsuits when spas had to knuckle under and recompense the harm done, they are seldom bruited about. Plaintiffs who won their cases are often asked to sign nondisclosure agreements and therefore cannot discuss their successes publicly.
The results of the procedures are generally assessed aesthetically. The expectations should be as realistic as possible. On the one hand, doctors‘ decisions ought to be in keeping with the problem and not always limit themselves to milder treatments. On the other hand, a lot depends on the way a client feels about herself; the true aim of med spas is to raise people’s self-assessment. A realistically minded client may be quite satisfied with the results while an individual who expected wonders would be devastated with the same results.
Do you want your spa to be properly licensed?
The American Society for Dermatologic Surgery Association has you know that in many states medical spas are not required to possess a license. Every state has its own ideas about how to regulate treatments. A recent regulation in Florida, for instance, reads that in the case of a physician called upon to remove fat in the amount of more than a quart (1,000 cubic centimeters, to be exact), he needs to register the procedure with the state. Either he is properly licensed for that or his performance will be subject to inspection.
But the fact is, inspections aren’t very frequent with med spas. They require resources and efforts that many states cannot afford to apply to every spa in their purview. What logically follows is unless a spa takes a really big fall, it is unlikely to be subjected to any serious inspection at all.
Are you sure your provider is up to the task?
You certainly sign up for a treatment being sure that you are handled with skill and precision; you don’t expect to be treated by someone who has just leant to do it! Nevertheless, a provider in the US can work on patients after a training course in dermal fillers that takes them one day to complete. Are they really that professional?
If you want an expert provider, you must make sure they had some experience after completing their training, they treated a number of patients, and they know what to do if a complication arises. You are perfectly justified in asking them for photos of patients before and after they underwent treatment.
You can come in for significant damage
So you have decided that a unit or two of Botox judicially placed will improve your looks marvelously. Reassured by a seemingly serious approach to clients and luxurious surroundings, you don’t believe anything could go wrong. Yet it can happen, and then you are in trouble.
A Botox shot, should unpredictable complications arise, can remain felt for up to four months, giving you eyelids that will droop and various reactions around the injection spot.
Bellafill and other dermal fillers might leave you with glanuloma (a kind of inflammation) and misshaped lumps that will require surgical removal.
Laser resurfacing is fraught with discoloration oft he skin as well as with burns and scars.
Upmarket skin care may produce an unwelcome effect
Medical spas are apt to offer a retail sale of various skin care and beauty pro ducts placed conveniently near the reception. More often than not they are clinic-formulated and costly. I fit suggests quality, it is usually more sensible to prefer products manufactured by famous brands.
A large company feels more responsible for their products, so they test them thoroughly before putting them on sale. Consequently, as a research in the Journal of Clinical Investigation reveals, products by well-known manufacturers carry more guarantee to produce the advertised effect and are less likely to cause allergic reactions.
This is not the case with new brands the contents of whose creams and tinctures you cannot actually be sure of.
