CWW Member Feature
SAFETY
Outranks Convenience and Social Acceptability in
Aesthetic Medicine By Member
Connie Brennan, RN, CPSN, CPC Director of Medical Aesthetic Education Center for Advanced Aesthetics - Life Time Fitness
President/Founder Aesthetic Enhancement Solutions, LLC 5905 Troy Lane, N Plymouth, MN 55446 botoxconnie@yahoo.com
I
t has been said that the 21st century is the “Information Age” and the “Age of Information Overload.” How many times have you heard people say “just because you can find it on the Internet doesn’t make it true or credible?” Mass marketing and easy information accessibility provides consumers with countless medical choices, too many of which leads to confusion and potentially harm. “The naïve consumer fails to recognize that the majority of available information on the Internet seeks to manipulate, rather than educate.” (Kim, 2006)
As such, today’s consumer has a number of potential venues to obtain facial rejuvenation procedures: the traditional Medical Aesthetic Provider’s (MD, NP, RN, PA) office; Medi Spas; “Botox parties” (Perry, 2013); and “Pump parties” (procedures are performed at homes, malls, trade shows, etc.). The latter two options, namely, “Botox and Pump parties,” while growing in popularity, convenient, fun, socially acceptable, and potentially a lower cost option to obtain treatment, should cause Medial Aesthetic Providers and consumers to reflect on one of the central tenets of the medical profession: “do no harm.” The injection of neurotoxins (e.g., Botox, Dysport and Xeomin) and dermal fillers (e.g., Restylane Silk, Juvederm, Belotero, Voluma) is a medical procedure. Medical procedures must be performed by trained and experienced Medical Aesthetic Providers equipped with the appropriate license, and the recipient must be fully informed of what the procedure involves and what potential side effects could develop post treatment. The vast majority of medical procedures are performed in a properly designed and equipped medical office for many good reasons; one of the most important is to ensure that proper equipment, instruments, sterility and medicaments are immediately available should something go wrong. While adverse events associated with cosmetic procedures are rare, they do occur.
89 Inner Circle Executive • Spring 2015
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