1. BUSINESS SOLUTIONS | MEDICAL SPA
Educating Clients—How Estheticians
and Physicians Differ, Part II
By Danielle Wachowski
Danielle Wachowski is
an esthetician certified
in oncology esthetics,
is NCEA-certified and
specializes in teaching advanced
esthetics for Skin Smooth PRO. She
has worked for several cosmeceutical
companies in education and sales,
and is passionate about helping
estheticians learn the art of
corrective skin care modalities in a
product-neutral way.
P
art I of this column appeared
in the June 2014 issue of
Skin Inc. magazine. The
article discussed the benefits clients
experience when estheticians and
physicians work together in the skin
care industry. Part II of this article
addresses the importance of the
often-lacking consultations and client
education in the medical spa, and
how estheticians can help fill the gap.
It begins with consultation
Too many opportunities for results
are missed due to weak consultations.
Both estheticians and physicians
are guilty of falling short in client
education—setting expectations,
sharing the importance of prepping
the skin before treatments and
paying attention to healing following
treatments.
Often forgotten or rushed, it is
the vital skin care consultation that
is the key to discovering how skin
care professionals can successfully
meet clients’ goals and expectations,
as well as determine how likely the
client is to comply with a home-care
regimen and treatment plan. It
is during this consultation that
essential information and clients’
goals are revealed. Cutting corners
puts clients’ skin and a skin care
business at risk, bringing the entire
industry down.
Estheticians who specialize in
corrective skin care understand
how vital it is to conduct an
in-depth consultation in order to
obtain all the facts that will lead
to a treatment plan, including
retail products to prepare the skin
for treatments. They also know
that liability insurance requires
professionals to obtain signed
consent forms. Estheticians cannot
neglect to follow through with
proper intake forms. This will
make themselves and the business
vulnerable to lawsuits.
Dealing with clients who are
convinced that medical skin care is
the only effective route can make
retailing for estheticians difficult.
To combat this belief, estheticians
need to earn clients’ trust. In taking
the time to allow clients to share
imperative information before
treatments, estheticians can uncover
common and often-intimidating
challenges imposed by a decade of
the medical skin care boom.
Clients are now using topical
drugs under their physicians’
care, which is posing challenges
that include statements such as,
“I only want your facials, not your
products,” and “I only use products
with tretinoin and hydroquinone
from my dermatologist.” This is an
opportunity to ask the client how
their current treatment is working
for them, and share with them the
ways an esthetician can improve
their results.
Support and education
There is little known about
anti-aging drugs and their
application, frequency of use and
side effects. In this industry’s
never-ending quest for youth, the
risks associated with medications
are sometimes ignored, but
it is the job of estheticians to
understand the potential side
effects, contraindications and
treatment options when clients opt
to continue usage.
It is the education component
that is missing in the physician’s
office. Even if a nurse suggests
skin care products, does she
really know skin care? She may
be parroting what the skin care
line representative taught her to
say when selling their products
during a lunch-and-learn. Does
the physican’s team have a deep
understanding of cosmeceutical
ingredients, formulations or
frequency of use specific to the
client? Not usually.
However, educated and hungry
estheticians are always delving
deeper into their quest to achieve
results by conducting series of
treatments on their clients, or
researching case studies that show
the results of treatment planning.
The evolution of clients’ skin is
based on knowledge of what to
recommend for home care, which
treatments to perform and when.
Time availability and client
education represent two huge
differences between estheticians
and physicians. It is the estheticians
that dedicate themselves to building
relationships through education and
recommending the perfect home-care
products for every client.
Reproduction in English or any other language of all or part of this article is strictly prohibited. © 2014 Allured Business Media.32 July 2014 © Skin Inc. www.SkinInc.com