Balancing Beauty and Budget:
Safe Approaches to Aesthetic Treatments

Dr. Simran Sethi:
Welcome to the Skin Report. Today we’re going to talk about how to afford injectables, lasers, microneedling, all sorts of medical aesthetic treatments. If you enjoy this kind of content, please like, subscribe, and also ask us any questions in the comments.

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So I’m going to go ahead and start with my co-host, Shahira.

Shaheera:
Hello.

Dr. Simran Sethi:
Hi, Shaheera.

Shaheera:
I am so fascinated by the industry of medical aesthetics. Of course, it’s not because you’re my sister and we work together, but also the vast amounts of people who are really embracing the industry, the lasers, the microneedling, the injectables, and of a lot of age ranges. Then there are people who are really wanting to benefit from these things. It’s high pressure on social media. You’re like, everyone’s getting injectables, everyone’s doing this or that.

Money is a huge factor in a lot of these circumstances. It’s definitely, it’s a luxury to treat yourself right? Luxury to have this type of self-care. I think you describe it often in a great way to make it accessible too, because everyone should feel really, really good in their skin and feel really, really good about themselves. How do you explain to someone who’s weary of like, “Hey, I really want to get these treatments. I want to get a microneedling treatment. I’m nervous about the budget aspect of it.”

Dr. Simran Sethi:
How do you afford this stuff?

Shaheera:
How do you afford it? How do you explain to somebody who has so many options on Yelp, or Google Business, or on social, how do they choose the best option?

Dr. Simran Sethi:
I think it comes down to the adage, if it sounds too good to be true, it’s not true. The reason why we are doing this episode is because recently in the United States, there have been cases, two scary cases, and I have a TV segment on this. One was counterfeit Botox being found in multiple states and leading to adverse effects because, and of course it was extremely cheap, and that’s why these people were using it. The second was HIV transmission from microneedling with PRP, which is a very safe procedure. But it was because of reuse of some of the needles and things.

So all of these are examples of providers, or unlicensed people, cutting corners using equipment and procedures that are incorrect, not sterile, so that they could save money and sell these services for a lot less. Budget is important, but don’t do something if it’s going to be dangerous. If you’re price shopping, which you should, if someone is providing something for $300, but the majority of the businesses are providing it for $1,000, there is something wrong. Just how you would generally pick a contractor to remodel your house, this is very similar.

Of course, reviews, reputation, how long they’ve been there, and who is working in that medical spa in that office? Is it owned and operated by a physician, which is required in the United States? Some states do allow nurse practitioners too. But yeah, what is their clinical leadership? Who is performing the procedure? Then also look at, if you’re doing something like a laser or microneedling, look at the name of the device they’re using. Go on the device’s actual website. I know that this doesn’t tell you how to afford it, but most importantly, how not to afford something if it’s not right. That’s actually equally important. Spending $300 or $1,000, but getting HIV is definitely not… It’s definitely not something that should happen. So how to pick the right medical spa is equally important as how to afford it. I have a whole episode on how to go through that process.

But when it comes to affording things, even if you can start simple, which is skincare, right? Medical grade skincare, it has clinical grade actives that are going to the dermis of the skin, which will anti-age you, which will correct pigmentation and damage. Starting with that, until you can budget enough to do maybe simpler things that are a little more affordable, like injectables, Botox, fillers when appropriate, you can’t rely on them entirely, but you can get some some headway.
This all comes down to collagen banking. Collagen banking, it’s funny because even though it’s banking, which implies some sort of financial process, it actually is synonymous with what we’re doing with your collagen. I think if you haven’t listened to that episode, if people haven’t, they should, because it explains this further. Many medical spots have payment plans like Care Credit here in the US, and some other pay now, buy now, pay later kinds of things. Those are available. But again, your budget should guide you. Don’t be guided by the pricing and the market. Make smart consumer decisions.

Shaheera:
I think addressing your skincare is a huge part of it, being really, really smart about and really knowledgeable about how to read ingredient labels because it is helping you either heal something that you may be able to do at home with skincare. So you don’t need to have a medical spa advanced treatment.

For the people who do have a lot of scars, more kind of advanced skin concerns, and they really are like, “I’m ready to invest,” they’re nervous about it, payment options, really understanding who your provider is. If you’re not sure what type of medical director, if it’s a medical director versus the actual physician or doctor who’s working, it’s totally easy to figure out that information.

I do have a question about injectables actually, because I know that that’s an easy thing. It’s a fun thing. It’s instant gratification. Then, I mean, injectables, getting your lips done, getting a little boost on a cheekbone, a little lift. How does one pick the full quality over the price tag?

Dr. Simran Sethi:
Yeah, so ask your injector, which product? Is it Juvederm Ultra, Juvederm Vollure? I’m going to use Juvederm because that’s what I use in my practice, and why. If your provider is telling you one is better than the other because of how it works in that space, cheeks versus lips, and they have great reviews, they’ve shown good work on their social media and so forth, then yes, be trusting.

If you cannot afford that extra $75 to go from a kind of average filler product to one that’s better for you, then just wait until you can. Again, it all comes down to start early with good skincare. At the end, you’re going to spend less money on a lot of these procedures. So the earlier you start with collagen banking, good skincare practices, healthy eating, lifestyle, you are going to spend less overall in your lifetime.

Shaheera:
Yeah, because these treatments, they have, I mean, they last long. They’re meant to last long.

Dr. Simran Sethi:
Exactly.

Shaheera:
So if you’re doing them incorrectly, you’re going to an unsafe space or something, or cutting corners, that is a huge negative impact.

Dr. Simran Sethi:
Then you’ll have to afford a big correction of your-

Shaheera:
Which you actually have seen a lot of people get a lot of repairing and sort of damage control, unfortunately.

Dr. Simran Sethi:
No. No. I have seen some instances of poor filler injections with products that the filler, the patient doesn’t even know what it was, done very poorly. Now we have to charge them to dissolve it, and then sometimes they don’t have the financial resources to redo it. So again, if they had just not done it. But the story is always the same, it’s always the cheapest thing that they could afford and it was an unlicensed situation or they had no idea of what was being used. So yes.

Shaheera:
You have a great episode on almost like a walk through a medical spa experience. I think people should definitely listen to that in the podcast because you’re actually explaining from once you enter a spa, what a consultation, what questions you should be asking. That’s another really great way to do it because you don’t have to make an investment at a consultation. You just need to ask the right questions. You also get that really great rapport and understanding if they’re a good provider or not.

Dr. Simran Sethi:
Yeah, exactly. If you can’t afford treatments, there’s always skincare.

Shaheera:
If anyone has any questions, they can throw them in the comments.

Dr. Simran Sethi:
Absolutely. Absolutely.

Thank you so much for listening today. Please like, subscribe, and interact with us through your comments.