With so much choice now available, choosing an aesthetic practitioner can be difficult. Here we share top tips on things to consider…
Qualifications
The first and most important thing you should check is the practitioner’s qualifications. Seeing someone medically qualified (a doctor, dentist or nurse prescriber) is essential, as they will know how to follow appropriate hygiene protocols, while having an understanding of your underlying anatomy, and should have the ability to manage a complication if something does go wrong. They’re also accountable to a governing body, which can strike them off for any wrongdoing.
Of course, you can check a doctor or dentist against our BCAM member list to know they’re qualified, while you can also look any medic up on the appropriate registers:
Doctors – General Medical Council
Dentists – General Dental Council
Nurses – Nursing and Midwifery Council
Training
As well as being a qualified medic, you should find someone who has had relevant training in the treatment you’re hoping to undergo. Unfortunately, there’s no required training in aesthetics so the type and number of courses people have completed will vary. Usually, the more they’ve done the better.
Experience
To ensure your practitioner has plenty of experience, ask them about how many years they’ve worked in aesthetics, how many patients they’ve treated with this particular procedure, and ask to see before and after pictures of their work.
Of course, everyone must start somewhere so there will be excellent practitioners who may not be as experienced as others. In these, cases it’s important their honest about how much work they’ve done and explain their training in detail, so you’re reassured they know what they’re doing.