No pain no gain? No way!
I'm a total chicken as far as pain is concerned.Why suffer for no reason? Sure, I'd suffer if there was really no choice. Or would I? Before I opened my clinic, I'd tried all sorts of things: Thermage, IPL, laser, fillers, Botox... PAIN!!!
Ultimately, I'm still an Anaesthetist and my instinct is to figure out how to minimise pain. In fact, it's one of my major obsessions. I've tried so many aesthetic treatments, and the main thoughts are aways: does it work and how can I make this comfortable for my patients? So I've really stocked my clinic up with every form of pain relief method conceivable! And a reasonable level of pain relief is standard in our procedures (except mesotherapy which I'll mention briefly below).
Anyway, I recently came across this video on youtube. It features Georgia in action on brave Ros. Check this out:
Poor Ros! I cringed so much when the needle plunged into her lips! Ouch!!! She was so brave, but that kind of suffering is so unnecesary! I had my lips done before, and with a block, it didn't hurt at all! Even the block was pretty painless! I always block before I inject fillers, whenever I can anyway. If I can't then I use my wonderful laughing gas. And the most difficult area to block is the nose. So I just gas and my patients love it!
I recently attended a Restylane product launch. (Actually, Georgia was sat right next to us!) They brought in this Korean expert who demonstrated filling various parts ofthe face on these very brave volunteers. No pain relief save some EMLA numbing cream. Yikes! They were very very brave. For nose enhanements, he plunged this great big 2 inch needle from nose tip all the way up! With no pain relief! Arghhhhh!
Our local doctors kept asking what pain relief he'd normal provide & his answer as a frightening NONE!!! Beauty before sanity!
Guess my clients are very spoilt [but they derserve it! :o)]! I try everything, so I try to keep the procedures at a reasonably comfortable level based on my own rather low pain threshold. I sometimes wonder if it's really appeciated? It keeps my price on the high side (actually not by that much), but I for one would pay a little bit more for comfort & sanity. I have post-traumatic stress disorder from Thermage!
Anyway, the only time adequate pain relief is not included in the package is with mesotherapy for fat melting. Reason is that I've kept my price the same, but changed to a super duper fat melting product. This new cocktail works 2-3 times faster than the old cocktail. I really wanted to double my charge and add in pain relief, but I didn't think that was fair. So I now give my clients the option: same price, they can either go for old cocktail which works okay and is very comfortable, or new cocktail which works really fast but is painful. If they choose the latter, they can always pay a nominal sum for pain relief. And trust me, it makes a big diference!
So no pain, no gain? No need! Simply Aesthetic is where beauty doesn't hurt!
I'm a total chicken as far as pain is concerned.Why suffer for no reason? Sure, I'd suffer if there was really no choice. Or would I? Before I opened my clinic, I'd tried all sorts of things: Thermage, IPL, laser, fillers, Botox... PAIN!!!
Ultimately, I'm still an Anaesthetist and my instinct is to figure out how to minimise pain. In fact, it's one of my major obsessions. I've tried so many aesthetic treatments, and the main thoughts are aways: does it work and how can I make this comfortable for my patients? So I've really stocked my clinic up with every form of pain relief method conceivable! And a reasonable level of pain relief is standard in our procedures (except mesotherapy which I'll mention briefly below).
Anyway, I recently came across this video on youtube. It features Georgia in action on brave Ros. Check this out:
Poor Ros! I cringed so much when the needle plunged into her lips! Ouch!!! She was so brave, but that kind of suffering is so unnecesary! I had my lips done before, and with a block, it didn't hurt at all! Even the block was pretty painless! I always block before I inject fillers, whenever I can anyway. If I can't then I use my wonderful laughing gas. And the most difficult area to block is the nose. So I just gas and my patients love it!
I recently attended a Restylane product launch. (Actually, Georgia was sat right next to us!) They brought in this Korean expert who demonstrated filling various parts ofthe face on these very brave volunteers. No pain relief save some EMLA numbing cream. Yikes! They were very very brave. For nose enhanements, he plunged this great big 2 inch needle from nose tip all the way up! With no pain relief! Arghhhhh!
Our local doctors kept asking what pain relief he'd normal provide & his answer as a frightening NONE!!! Beauty before sanity!
Guess my clients are very spoilt [but they derserve it! :o)]! I try everything, so I try to keep the procedures at a reasonably comfortable level based on my own rather low pain threshold. I sometimes wonder if it's really appeciated? It keeps my price on the high side (actually not by that much), but I for one would pay a little bit more for comfort & sanity. I have post-traumatic stress disorder from Thermage!
Anyway, the only time adequate pain relief is not included in the package is with mesotherapy for fat melting. Reason is that I've kept my price the same, but changed to a super duper fat melting product. This new cocktail works 2-3 times faster than the old cocktail. I really wanted to double my charge and add in pain relief, but I didn't think that was fair. So I now give my clients the option: same price, they can either go for old cocktail which works okay and is very comfortable, or new cocktail which works really fast but is painful. If they choose the latter, they can always pay a nominal sum for pain relief. And trust me, it makes a big diference!
So no pain, no gain? No need! Simply Aesthetic is where beauty doesn't hurt!
2 comments:
Hi Christine,
I'm sorry to hear you had such a negative experience with Thermage. I've spoken with many doctors about this and they said that, while the "old" Thermage used to be painful, their current treatment guidelines make the procedure much more comfortable and with greater efficacy. If it hurts a lot, the doctor isn't doing it right. They're supposed to adjust the energy based on feedback from the patient, which keeps it from being too painful, and make multiple passes to achieve better results.
Yes, I have heard about the new guidelines too. What happens with Thermage now is that multiple passes are done with a lower energy (larger number of shots, so cost of the treatment goes up) PLUS the doctors use sedation and/or nerve blocks to make the process tolerable. The risk of nerve blocks is that you lose the feedback control and excessive tissue heating can occur, with muscle and fat damage. With sedation, it is performed by someone who's concentrating on doing the Thermage, often without adequate monitoring or oxygen.
Ultimately, the costs involved with Thermage, the delayed results (which are very variable) and the pain issue make me reluctant to consider introducing it to my practice. Good skincare and quality peels produce fantastic lifting with glow and long-term improvement in a shorter time-span. And lightening of pigmentation too. For much less cost.
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