FIRST BLOG POST
My first blog! I have been thinking about starting this for a while so here I am! I will be covering different topics every couple of weeks, they will be on my website, and I will then email them out to you if you are on my mailing list.
I thought I’d start with a little guidance on choosing your practitioner wisely. I often see posts on social media asking for recommendations for aesthetic practitioners. I think that personal recommendations and reviews on social media pages / google reviews are important.
But it is paramount to check the knowledge and skills of the practitioner. I am a nurse prescriber, and I have been qualified since 2005. Throughout my career I have always kept up to date with current aesthetic knowledge, and I am continually updating my emergency, complications and general nursing knowledge.
As a nurse I am registered with the NMC (Nursing & Midwifery Council) where my registration and prescribing status can be checked. The relevance of this is essential because botulinum toxin (botox) for example is a prescribed drug. Now here is the thing, you MUST by law, have a face to face consultation with your prescriber, where they will check your medical history, any medications that you are on and that you don’t have any contraindications or allergies. At this point the treatments would be discussed, a consent form signed and an opportunity to ask any questions.
Obviously by visiting a practitioner that is not a medical professional, then you will have to have a face to face with a medical professional with a prescribing qualification for the purpose of issuing a prescription. If you have any concerns regarding their qualifications then you should check their professional credentials which can be done online, ask to see certificates of their training, and proof of insurance.
And if the price seems too good to be true, it generally will be. I see ALOT of discounted treatments offering toxin for £80/£100 for 3 areas, but it costs more than this to buy the prescription drug from a reputable pharmacy. So if these are the prices that are being advertised, you have to consider if the drug is real; or is it a fake import from another country? Or could it be that the practitioner may not be reconstituting the drug appropriately? There may be other reasons for this, but it all leads to the same outcome - it is too good to be true and stay clear!
All the above is obviously only intended as a guide, you can go where’ve you want to go, but just consider this is your face! There are lots of areas in your life that you can save money or grab a bargain, but your face shouldn’t be one of them! There will be regional difference in prices obviously, but if most reputable practitioners have a similar price point then this is a good guideline.
If you need any help in checking professional qualifications see below:
NMC - nursing register
GDC - dental register
GMC - medical register
GPC - pharmacists
There are other allied professionals that are able to inject and prescribe, this list is not exhaustive.
I hope you’ve enjoyed what you have read. Let me know what you would like more information on next time,
Nicola
