FDA Gives Approval For Three Breast Augmentation

A number of main stream news organizations are reporting today that the FDA is suspending the need for medical injectables (like Restylane and Juvederm) from being approved before they're used.

AND they're going to allow third breast implants. (see image)

In a reversal of a long-standing rule against using anything that's not FDA approved for medical care, physicians (and presumably otheres since this removes injectables from FDA approval) can inject anything they want.

According to a statement provided by FDA spokesperson April Fulton:

There have been a number of cases where individuals with psychological problems have injected themselves with materials that include industrial silicon or even battery acid since they couldn't find a physician that would treat them. This regulatory change will allow patients who want to be injected with battery acid to find a physician who can perform this service rather than trying to do it themselves.

With the economy in termoil, many price concious consumers can't affort the cosmetic name brands like Botox, Restylane, and Juvederm, now they can access substitutes. We're looking to allow competition in a protected market that benefits consumers. Now, you can get injected with beef-stick if you want.

In addition, plastic surgeons will now be able to offer third breast implants. These treatments have been popular oversees (especially in Europe) but are now going to be availabe in the US. Expect to spend much more on bikinis. Three pocket bras are already appearing on eBay.

... Three breast augmentation has been show to have no greater statistical risk than single breast augmentation. It's been the norm in parts of Europe for years and we're not looking to penalize American plastic surgeons who could be performing these surgeries instead of having patients go oversees.

This is terrible. Don't be surprised if you find day spas or even oil change franchises jumping with both feet into 'medical' treatments now that the FDA is dropping filler injections as a regulatory body. Even hair salons will be able to provide 'beef-stick injections' or anything else they want without any regulator oversight and no one seems to have thought of the ramifications to clothing retailers and others of having to provide for a third breast.

To quote Ghostbusters, '“Dogs and Cats Living Together, MASS HYSTERIA!”

Plastic surgery gone wrong?! Speak to Irwin Mitchell about a medical negligence claim.

Antiaging

Anti-Aging Medicine: An Overview is a general article about anti-aging medicine that includes a bibliography.

Is human aging still mysterious enough to be left only to scientists? [unknown]

Scientific Legitimacy of the Term "Anti-Aging" is a letter to the editor of the Journal of Anti-Aging Medicine.

Ethics of Anti-Aging Medicine Questioned [by Professor David J. Demko, Phd]

Anti-Aging Case Study # 011102 is a typical case study of a well-executed and comprehensive anti-aging program.

Anti-Aging Nutrition Secrets [CNN.com]

Articles about Caloric Restriction with Adequate Nutrition (CRAN)

Calorie Restriction Eat Less, Eat Better, Live Longer [by Roy L. Walford, M.D.]

Deprenyl: A Universal Anti-Aging Strategy? [Smart Drug News]

Dietary Restriction and Aging in Rhesus Monkeys [Life Extension Magazine]

The Five Proven Secrets to Longevity - The first online Anti-Aging book from the American Academy of Anti-Aging Research. You are welcome to browse through the various synopses available.

Graying baby boomers fuel new 'anti-aging' market [Post-Gazette]

Hormone Replacement Therapy [by Elmer M. Cranton, M.D.]

Effects of human growth hormone in men over 60 years old [The New England Journal of Medicine]

Lifespan Project Launched [by Richard Weindruch and Stephen R. Spindler]

MIT researchers uncover new information about anti-ageing gene [MIT News]

News and Views from the library of the American Academy of Anti-Aging Research.

Anti-Aging Research Brief [American Academy of Anti-Aging Research]

Science Edges Closer to Fountain of Youth [Chicago Tribune]

The Serious Search for an Anti-Aging Pill [Scientific American Magazine]

Top Ten Life Extension Drugs [Life Extension Foundation]

Longevity Report has a host of articles.

From the excellent anti-aging blog of Cambridge biogerontologist Dr. Aubrey de Grey

Med Spa & Laser Clinic Yellow Page Advertising

The Fools Gold of Yellow Pages Advertising.

A discussion about usage patterns and investing in the Yellow Pages directory. It’s something of an institution for many small business owners, and I know that many owners out there are terrified at the idea of not running the biggest possible ad they can afford. So far though, I’ve never spoken to a business owner who could substantiate their belief in the power of the Yellow Pages to generate business. The normal answer I’ve been given is ‘yes it works, no I don’t know how well’. Considering the pricing, I would hope it works damn well! It’s easy to drop $20K+ on a few inches of paper.

It amazes me just how many plastic surgeons and dermatologists advertise their presence in the Yellow Pages. (As well as med spas and laser clinics.) If you’ve got one of those big yellow stickers that say “Find me in Yellow Pages” stuck to your car, your door, your wall, or god forbid- included on a brochure or website! Stop what you’re doing right now, go outside, peel it off, and burn it*.

Telling your potential patients that your laser clinic or med spa can be found in the Yellow Pages is a terrible way to promote your practice. If you’ve made enough of an impression that they want to contact you again, you’ve already done the hard part. You’ve stood out from the crowd, you’ve had their attention. Don’t waste this valuable opportunity on a useless referral. Those four evil words “Find me in Yellow” serve the company that owns the directory, not you. Heres some things to think about:Yellow Pages is not strictly alphabetical, it’s a competitive listing. The ‘No.1’ position goes to the highest bidder, with the earliest application. Your prospective patient has to troll through pages of your competitors advertising to find you.

You’re encouraging people to comparison shop. Now that they’ve gone to the trouble of pulling out the phone book, it’s not that much more trouble to just do a quick ‘call around’ and find out who has the best price. You just lost your advantage. (You'll recognize the phone calls that come asking how much for a unit of Botox, laser hair removal, or Thermage.)

You risk that their attention will be drawn to someone else. You could pay a little more for bold typeface, and a border… but that doesn’t change the fact that you’re still buried amongst 15 pages of other plastic surgeons, laser clinics, dermatologists and med spas.

If you want to refer them somewhere, point them to your own website! At least there you won’t give your opposition the chance to steal your patient!

Note: I said your own site. Medical spa and plastic surgeon directories function just like the Yellow Pages, inviting comparison shopping and driving your prices down. And providing a competitve zone listing? Bullshit used to sell to docs who don't know better. There is no 'exclusion zone' on the web. Anyone looking for a laser clinic will damn well find all of your competitors anyway. (I'll be posting about this topic extensively since I get a lot of questions about how to do SEO and SEM for med spas.)

Are yellow page ads working for your laser clinic?

Simple answer: They weren't for me. I pulled the Yellow Page ads for all of our med spas. (Seven clinics in four states.) Over the last seven years, I have found that the money that is spent or should I say gouged on Yellow Page ads is better spent elsewhere.

Yellow Pages were at one time popular before the Internet and competition. In many markets, there are six Yellow Page competitors who are all publishing books. In order to run a full-page, full-color ad in all of them, I would be looking at about $20,000 a month, which I think is absolutely ridiculous.

Yellow Page salespeople will tell you that 50% or 40% or some other percentage of people who are looking for your type of business are going to be able to find you in the Yellow Pages.

That is true... kind of*.

What really happens is people hear about your med spa or dermatology office and then they will search for you in order to find out your telephone number. That's a vastly different value proposition from the way that Yellow Pages are really sold to you as which is direct advertising. The Internet has made it so easy to find any information. The Yellow Pages for the most part are now irrelevant.

Now, I've tried individual phone numbers and a number of other things in order to track our ROI, but what we find out when we actually talk to our patients (every patient that comes into one of our clinics is given a questionnaire in which case they fill out where they heard about us and also if they have heard about us before) the vast majority are just using Yellow Pages in order to look up our phone number. (I think probably 100% of people who fill out that they called us from the Yellow Pages also fill out that they have heard of us someplace before) Of those same patients only about 3% do not have Internet access. As more and more people switch to the Internet for their information needs, the Yellow Pages become less and less relevant, and the opportunity cost for that money becomes greater and greater.

I would be interested in hearing what your thoughts are on the Yellow Page ads that you run (or don't).

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Med Spa Marketing: To Twitter or Not To Twitter

Medical spa and laser clinic marekting? You may want to be on social networks like Facebook and Twitter.

It’s no secret that a creative way to market your medical spa or laser clinic is by participating in social media marketing (SMM) such as Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, YouTube, Digg, Craig’s List, etc. These types of sites give users a virtual voice on the internet. At our practice, we have a huge amount of referrals from friends or family members. In the same manner, these types of sites allow people to share information and recommend your practice to others. Let’s face it, most people like to check out your reputation before they schedule an appointment and SMM sites allow for an excellent forum to do so.

Just listing yourself on SMM sites with a link back to your URL won’t help your SEO ranking much unless you actively use them to build your brand recognition which, in turn, leads to improved linking to your website. The main problem is, keeping yourself current on SMM sites is time consuming and many physicians barely have time to answer their email let alone update all of these sites on a regular basis! In fact, I am extremely impressed at how many physicians are active on Medical Spa MD!

To get started, your best tactic is to investigate who your target audience is in demographics, then compare that data to different SMM sites that fit your target. Once established on these sites, you have to continually engage your audience with interesting content, perhaps chats, or mini blogs. It does take time and diligence, but the reward is building your brand awareness and uniqueness from other practices in your area.

Making your site mobile ready enables users to follow you on SMM sites easily (visit my mobile site from your handheld device at www.YoungMedicalSpa.mobi (if you try to visit from a PC you will be redirected to my dot-com site).

I truly believe SMM can help with your global link popularity which is essential to your SEO rankings. Unfortunately, it’s difficult to determine which venues are converting users to actual revenue. I monitor referring sites using Google Analytics - a very valuable tool!

I work hard at keeping up with all of these SMM sites and have to build a schedule to follow just so I don’t forget. Is it worth investing your time? I say absolutely! That, or hire a teenager to do it for you.

Follow Medical Spa MD on Twitter

Follow Paula; Young Medical Spa on Twitter

Author: Paula D. Young RN runs internal operations and training at Young Medical Spa and is the author of the Medical Spa Aesthetics Course, Study Guide, and Advanced IPL & Laser Training course for medical estheticians and laser technicians.

Submit a guest post and be heard.

Update

on 2009-04-01 20:04 by Paula D. Young RN: Medical Spa

Twittering and social media marketing is the key focus in April's digital edition of Cosmetic Surgery Times!

http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/advanstar/cst_200904/#/2

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IPL & Cosmetic Laser Rental

IPL or Cosmetic Laser Rentals?

If you're looking to advertise (or find) an IPL rental or cosmetic laser to rent, please post that under the medical spa classifieds rather than just stick them in a comment thread somewhere.

It's becomming popular in some areas to rent a laser or IPL from someone else. (This is the defacto method in Brazil where import taxes make cosmetic laser extremely expensive. Brazilian plastic surgeons and derms schedule all of their patients at a location and they and the patients go there for the treatments.)

Anyway, there have been a number of offers to rent a laser or IPL showing up in diverse threads and forums. I'd appreciate it if you have some sort of offer or need around laser renting, if you'd post that in the med spa classified area. Your laser listing will get more traffic there and won't be disrupting other discussions.

Thank you. The Management.

Medical Spa & Laser Clinic Coupon Shopping

Medical spas seem to be opening up everyday, or more physicians are adding cosmetic services to their practices and adding the phrase “medical spa or laser clinic” to their practice name. Whatever the cause of this increase in “competition” the fact is the more players there are, the more you have to step up your marketing campaign.

Potential clients have no idea who is “better” than whom, or who has the most experience, or talent. Point blank, their main concern when choosing a medical spa service provider is price. We have price shoppers calling everyday asking how much we charge per unit of Botox, or per syringe of a particular dermal filler. It amazes me that "A", Botox and fillers are so common and are injected in so many different types of practices that someone actually CAN price shop. And, "B", it amazes me that someone doesn’t even ask who is performing their injections and how much experience they have had. Since when is cosmetic medicine categorized like shopping for a handbag?

Here’s the conundrum we’re facing in our medical spa... laser lipolysis is our number one aesthetic service in our practice. So many physicians have added laser lipolysis to their practice in the hopes of generating revenue and, unfortunately, are having a difficult time getting business in the door that they’re offering ridiculous price breaks or coupons worth a very high dollar amount. What the unsuspecting client doesn’t know is how high they jack up their service price to allow for the coupon deduction. Plus the client knows nothing of the practice, who’s performing their procedure, etc.

We have recently had clients come in for complimentary consultations and asked us if we would honor our competitors coupons. My staff was taken a little off guard not expecting such a request.

My stance is that this is a medical practice, not a boutique, and there is certain room for negotiation in pricing, but honoring a ridiculous coupon just to get someone’s business isn’t worth the reputation we’re trying to maintain as medical professionals. Granted, some clients take their coupons away in a huff and say they’ll go elsewhere and only under my breath can I say you’ll get what you pay for!

I’m curious to know how other medical spas handle competitor’s coupons. Is there a limit to what you will accept, or particular services you’ll negotiate on? How far are you willing to go to acquire new clients?

Author: Paula D. Young RN runs internal operations and training at Young Medical Spa and is the author of the Advanced IPL & Laser Training course for medical estheticians and laser technicians.

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Protect your reputation. Get new patients. Medical Spa MD Members receive a special, full service Podium account that includes: no setup fee (save $300), a 10% discount forever (save $330/year) and on-demand patient review marketing training for your entire staff ($597 value).  This offer is not available anywhere else.

Plastic Surgeon & Dermatologist Marketing Online: Is click fraud draining your advertising budget?

If you're one of the thousands of plastic surgeons, dermatologists, laser clincs and medical spas advertising online with Google Adwords or Yahoo, don't be surprised to find that at least some of the money you're paying every month is generated by click fraud.

Don't think it's happening to your skin clinic? Here's a quote from Michael Caruso, CEO of click fraud services vendor ClickFacts in an interview with Marketing Sherpa:

In some particularly fraud prone verticals such as finance, class action lawsuits and medical, ClickFacts sees rates in the 30%-45% range. These are all categories that see high keyword pricing in the auction model. That makes them particularly tasty for click fraud artists. “If you can make more money from the dark side than the light side of search, there are plenty of people who will take advantage. Plus, it’s not even technically illegal yet.

Two ways that your plastic surgery or medical spa marketing budget is being drained:

Competitors who see your ad simply click on it, draining your advertising dollars, or 'affiliate' sites are set up that run your ads where they are clicked on by bots or employees. These sites are the most damaging since you're paying for every click without any return. Click fraud for medical spas can be very lucrative since medspas are becoming such a competitive market and the payment per click can be as high as $4-5.

To keep your budget safe you have very few tools. Google just advertisers $90 million to compensate for click fraud as the result of a class action suit but you can bet they're not that interested in your individual account. Especially since they're making money from click fraud too.

Start by limiting your exposure to click fraud. If you're still running an Adwords or Yahoo campaign, they allow you to limit the maximum amount you spend in a day. Take advantage of this feature by limiting your maximum cost to what you can afford to spend. You can also look for the tracks of click fraud by examining the reports you might have available to you. Multiple clicks coming from the same IP address are a sure sign of fraud.

Malaysia has become such a haven for click fraud 'sweat-shops' that clicks generated there are completely discounted and Malaysian accounts for Adwords or Overture are not granted.

If you're going to run search ads, try to protect yourself. You can be sure that you're the only one trying to.

Plastic Surgery & Plastic Surgeon

Very interesting discussion on the RealSelf.com has kicked out all non-core doctors thread.

TF and Botoxdoc have, er... differing postions on who is able to provide the best plastic surgery care. (Perhaps 'best plastic surgery care' is not the most appropirate term and I should use 'appropriately safe level of plastic surgery care'.)

Anyway, there's been a lively exchange of which the following comments are only a fraction.

Link to the RealSelf.com kicks out all non-core docs thread:

TF:

I have never claimed that plastic surgeons are the only ones who can do aesthetics, which includes laser work, botox and injectables, as well as surgery. I am very supportive of non-plastic surgeons who do botox, injectables and lasers. I have only made the point that plastic surgery training is currently the best method for training surgeons who want to do total body aesthetic surgery. It may not be perfect, but it's still the standard.

There are no shortcuts in learning how to be a master surgeon. Only those, like yourself, who seem to think that there are shortcuts.

Good luck to you - and your patients....

Botoxdoc:

While you say, I am wrapping my self in the cloak of the "free market" flag and have forgotten the fundsamentals of being a physician "doing no harm", nothing could be further from the truth. I only take cases in which I am proficient. I would never put a patient in harms way, nor perform a case which is not appropriate. I have refered many pts to a plastic surgeon when I felt they needed something more than I could provide them. (At the loss of significant revenue, I might add.) On the contrary, I beleive you are wrapping yourself in the cloak of "patient safety" . It is hubris to beleive I would not have the same concerns as you about patient safety. But because I am not a board certified PS or Derm, I must be, in your mind, a sub-par physician with no regard to my pts well-being, or safety. In fact there is absolutely no hard evidence that supports the argument that having Botox, or any other cosmetic treatment performed by a non-core physician results in more complications. Instead of me showing you my before and afters, why don't you show me a paper (randomized, case controlled, or even a retrospective study) that supports the commonly held belief that non-cores are dangerous. In fact, the complication rate in my clinic is better than what has been documented in the literature. While several months ago at a local hospital, a board certified plastic surgeon performing lipo under general aneasthesia penetraed the viscera and killed his pt. For that he received a reprimand. If I did that, I would probably loose my license or worse. Now I ask you, how fair is that?

In my opinion there needs to be a fundamental change in the system which will allow the acceptance and acknowledges "non-core" physicians performing aesthetics. Until that day arrives, those that judge my work will be my pts. and their families.

TF:

You want science - OK, here's some for you.

Subglandular breast augmentation has a higher rate of capsular contracture. Proven in multiple studies.

Subglandular breast augmentation has a higher degree of interference with mammograms. Proven.

Subglandular breast augmentation has a higher rate of unsatisfactory ripples and wrinkles, especially with saline implants. Proven.

Do you offer this procedure because it's the only one you can technically perform?
Do you even offer your patients a choice of sub-pectoral or dual plane techniques?
Do you give a truly informed consent about the other options....Or do you slant it your way, so you can get the patient to book with you?

You claim you are all about patient care - and then you say it's fine to take a weekend course, and then practice unsupervised on the first 100 or so paying customers, so you can master it. Wow. That's messed up!!

RealSelf.com's blogged about how that site is only the 'dispenser of information' (my name not theirs) and has removed more than 3000 physician accounts because they were not boarded in plastic surgery or dermatology. I wonder what the majority of realself.com questions are about? Liposuction? Breast augmentation?  Or, Botox? I don't think that there's any real disagreement that if you're looking for real plastic surgery you want a plastic surgeon (or cosmetic surgeon). The arguement arises over what is 'real' plastic surgery.

The inclusion of technology starts to blur the lines beween what a plastic surgeone does with a scalpel, and what a non-core doc can do using a laser, IPL, or RF technology. The boundries will only be blurred more as more IPLs and lasers are introducted.

IPL Burns

The Independent newspaper in the UK has an article today in their Health & Wellbeing section from a reporter who was badly burned by an IPL treatment at a 'Top London Med Spa'.

The photos show the reporter with large uneven red welts on her chest and areas of redness on her face also. According to the story the correspondent was seduced by the promise of a `fast and effective way of removing the visible ravages of time without surgery’.

This is the second high profile newspaper report in recent times (see also News anchor gets burned by photo facial). I wish this were even less common than it is, but I've seen a number of IPL & laser burns before. These are often the result of rogue operations (Mesotherapy Lipodisolve Horror Stories) poorly trained staff AND physicians who intimidate their staff.

If your a plastic surgeon or dermatologist running a skin clinic, med spa, or laser clinic and your staffs first reaction is not to tell you somethings going wrong or they're not sure about an IPL or laser setting, you're just setting yourself up to have problems.

These types of IPL and laser burns are almost invaraibly the result of a physician who has medical estheticians or laser technicians who are afraid of confronting them with a problem or question. The doctor's defense? They were told what to do... but problems always arise and doctors who don't want to be hassled are the ones putting both their patitent and their laser clinic at risk. It's just a numbers game. If you treat 1000 patients at least some of them will have problems. Your staff should never be repremanded or belittled for ANY question.

The technician told me she would use a strong setting to get better results. As she passed the handpiece across my face the feeling grew hotter and hotter. By the time the device reached my neck, I could barely imagine continuing with the burning sensation. When she started on my chest the pain was intolerable and I had to ask her to stop repeatedly before continuing with what felt like torture. I'd thought of "no pain, no gain" and I soldiered on.

I got dressed, with a burning hot chest and a face that looked as if I'd been pulled out of a forest fire.

I was scheduled to return in two weeks for the next IPL treatment, in a course of six that costs £1,200. I went to a make-up shop and was dusted with a mineral powder, suggested by the spa, to camouflage the redness of my face.

A woman at the same counter asked me what the hell I'd had done. When I proudly informed her I'd had an IPL photo facial – she looked at me with total horror. "I don't mean to worry you, but I've had a course and it never looked like that." I largely shrugged off her words of warning. Why would I question the skill of a technician at the high end of the market? It's not as if I'd taken a chance and visited a high-street beauty parlour.

When I got home and looked in the mirror at my chest for the first time since the treatment - only an hour later – I was horrified. Angry red rectangular burns covered my chest in a random grid. Little did I know when I'd set off that morning that I would return after my first exciting treatment scorched and traumatised. What made no sense to me was that the treatment had not been done uniformly which was more obvious on my chest where I looked like I'd been branded with a hot iron.

The next day, on the advice of a friend, I called a top dermatologist – Dr Nick Lowe – known as the god of dermatology. He is also the man the rich and famous depend on when they need to be fixed, without resorting to the knife.

Dr Lowe saw me as a medical emergency the following morning. He works at the Cranley Clinic, off Harley Street, London, has a private practice in Santa Monica, California, and is clinical professor of dermatology at the UCLA School of Medicine, Los Angeles. He has his own skin care range and is the author of many books, including, most recently, The Wrinkle Revolution.

He was horrified by what he saw and concerned that no doctor was present at the IPL treatment – but it didn't surprise him. Along with other doctors, he is lobbying to get these types of treatments regulated in the UK. He believes treatments including Botox, line fillers, laser and light should only be conducted by doctors or administered under a doctor's supervision.

"The UK is one of the few countries in Europe that does not have sound legislation. It is much more regulated in France, Spain and Italy where only trained doctors can administer these treatments. The UK has failed totally to protect the public in this arena," says Dr Lowe.

Shining The Light On LED Therapy

Sales must be down because I have been getting inundated with sales reps cold calling my office telling me how our practice can improve the therapeutic outcome of many of our services merely by adding LED light therapy.

I have spoken to some other practices and get mixed reviews when discussing LED therapy. Some feel it is highly beneficial while others think it verges on the level of witch-doctory. The FDA states that LED technology with a low-level output is determined to be of “non-significant risk”, but has it been determined to provide any significant improvement specifically in the medical aesthetic arena?

I, personally, am skeptical as to whether or not a wavelength of LED light can actually make an improvement in certain conditions we currently treat in our practice. I’m not talking about infrared light for purposes such as skin tightening or blue light used in conjunction with Levulan® kerastick photodynamic therapy for the treatment of acne.

Every company I speak with has their spin on the product. I understand spin, I used to teach sales reps how to spin. What matters to me more is clinical data that suggests there are actual improvements in skin tone, texture and clarity. That there is alleviation of wrinkles, and lightening of dyschromias from acne, melasma, or from environmental causes. Call me a non-believer, but I value a doubled-blinded study far more than I do anecdotal experience.

Reps are telling me that LED therapy is used highly successfully as a stand alone therapy or as an adjunct to laser services. They now claim to have therapeutic advantages post laser lipolysis claiming it reduces erythema, edema and bruising. Come on! Really? Where’s the data that suggests that? Does it provide more of a psychological benefit to the patient than it does physiological? If so, patient selection is as important as in hypnotherapy!

Information on the web has revealed the following cosmetic indications where LED light therapy has been “known” (how it’s known I’m not sure) to provide benefits: burns, scrapes, pain relief from skin injury, prevention of bruising, inflammation (if a fresh injury), and, wound healing (such as after a laser peel or resurfacing procedure).

Some conditions where LED light therapy is believed to have some benefit for is: Red LED for the treatment of Rosacea, anti-aging, sun damage, dyschromias, existing bruises and inflammation, psoriasis, eczema, dermatitis, and, poison ivy. Yellow LED for wrinkles, and blue LED for the treatment of acne.

The Rosacea Support Group’s website at http://rosacea-support.org, states some very compelling information about the major players in the LED therapy market and various physician testimonials as to their therapeutic benefit.

Curiosity has truly consumed me on this topic; therefore, my question for discussion is this, does a device such as the above discussed, have to be FDA approved to substantiate a claim of efficacy in your eyes? And, is an FDA approval important to you when selecting modes of therapy for your practice?

Author: Paula D. Young RN runs internal operations and training at Young Medical Spa and is the author of the Medical Spa Aesthetics Course, Study Guide, and Advanced IPL & Laser Training course for medical estheticians and laser technicians.

Submit a guest post and be heard.

Medical Blog Power

Medical and doctor blogs have power. Just ask the med spa and laser clinic franchises that have suffered at the hands of the physicians who bought into them, and then related their experience on Medical Spa MD.

Here's a CNN story about blogs and the travel industry that dove tails with the growing number of plastic surgery, dermatology and skin clinic blogs that are integrated into existing sites.

In the near future, Medical Spa MD will be rolling out a laser clinc, medspa, and cosmetic practice blog network as well as detailed courses on SEO, gaining traffic, keyword analytics and general how to information. If you' don't already have a highly trafficed medical blog, that will be the time to start.

Laser Clinic & Med Spa Group Visits?

The Doctor will see you,alll, now: Group Appointments Give Patients More Time To Talk

Chang's office began offering such group visits only for patients with diabetes, and then for people with asthma. Instead of spending 10 or 15 minutes each with 10 patients — many of whom need to hear the same thing — she might spend 90 minutes with 18 patients. Each patient learns from others' questions and symptoms, and the doctor covers much more.

Group visits

Studies have found that patients attending group visits had fewer emergency room and specialist visits (and thus lower monthly costs), stayed healthier and were more satisfied with their care. Three models exist.Cooperative health care clinic, created by Dr. John Scott in Wheat Ridge, Colo., in 1991, is an alternative to individual doctor visits. The same group of patients usually sees the doctor together monthly. Specialty group visits, which Scott developed in 1995, are similar, but patients have the same diagnosis, such as pregnancy, diabetes, hypertension, arthritis or fibromyalgia.Drop-in group medical appointments, developed in 1996 by clinical psychologist Edward Noffsinger in San Jose, Calif., typically have different patients at each session.

I wonder if you could do this in a cosmetic setting. Has anyone tried something like this in your med spa or laser clinc?

Brazilian & Bikini Line Laser Hair Removal

Brazilian or bikini line laser hair removal can be classified in four types that has variable names depending on the med spa or laser clinic visited.

It has been claimed that Brazilian laser hair removal, the most renowned form, was named after a pair of Brazilian sisters who delivered the service  as a waxing treatment in New York.

• The American: bikini line laser hair removal is removal of hair at the top of the thighs and under the navel when wearing a bikini. It is also known as a basic bikini line.
• French bikini line: leaves a vertical strip in front (a landing strip), two to three finger-widths in length just above the vulva. It is also known as a partial Brazilian laser hair removal. Hair of the peri-anal area and labia may be removed. Removal of hair from these areas is also known as the 'Playboy' or 'G-waxing'.
• Brazilian refers to a removal of everything, front to back, while sometimes leaving a thin strip of hair on the pubis. An extreme form of bikini line laser hair removal, it involves complete removal of hair from the buttocks and adjacent to the anus, perineum and vulva (labia majora and mons pubis). Laser hari removal reatments that remove all of the pubic hair are known as a full Brazilian, full Bikini line, Hollywood wax or the Sphinx.

Further subgroups has been proposed by Anthropologist Desmond Morris, while referring to inconsistency in nomenclature:

• The Bikini Line: This is the least extreme form. All (most) pubic hair covered by the bikini is left in place. Only straggling hairs on either side are removed, so that none are visible when a bikini with high-cut sides is being worn.
• The Full Bikini: Only a small amount of hair is left, on the Mount of Venus (the mons pubis)
• The European: All pubic hair is removed 'except for a small patch on the mound'.
• The Triangle: All pubic hair is removed except for a sharply trimmed triangle.
• The Moustache: Everything is removed except for a wide, rectangular patch. This is sometimes called 'The Hitler's Moustache', sometimes 'Chaplin's Moustache'.
• The Heart: The main pubic tuft is shaped into a heart symbol.
• The Landing Strip: The central hair is trimmed into a narrow vertical strip and all other pubic hair is removed. This has become popular with models who must wear garments of an extreme narrowness in the crotch.
• The Playboy Strip: Everything is removed except for a long, narrow rectangle of hair.
• The Brazilian: This is the most famous of the bikini line laser hair removal styles but there is some confusion about its excact form. To some it is the same as the Landing Strip, leaving only a 'vertical stripe of hair'. To still others it signifies the complete removal of all pubic hair.
• The Sphynx: This is unambiguously the 'everything off' style, leaving a completely hairless pubic region. The name is derived from that of a naked breed of cat from Canada. Some laser clinics and med spas refer to 'the Sphynx' as 'the Hollywood'.

Advanced Laser Clinic

The most ‘advanced laser clinic’ is thrown around liberally but the truth is that all of the lasers and IPLs used in todays laser clinics are ‘advanced’.

The term ‘Advanced Laser Clinic’ is only a marketing term for attracting patients. (Who wouldn’t want to be treated at the most advanced laser clinc?) I've talked about advanced laser clinic in your med spa name before.

Of much more importance to a patient is the skill and experience of the doctor AND the estheticians or laser technicians who are performing the treatment. (No matter what realself.com thinks about doctors who are not boarded in plastic surgery or dermatology.) There are differences in IPLs and lasers, but it’s worth remembering that the advanced laser clinics are those who provide the best care, not the one’s that have advanced in their name.