Some things people bring to a med spa need a doctor rather than a treatment room. Some things people bring to a med spa are not aesthetic problems and need a doctor rather than a treatment room. See a physician or a dermatologist, not us, if you have a mole or a mark that has changed shape, colour or size, or that bleeds, itches or will not heal; a sore anywhere that has been there more than three weeks; a rash you cannot explain; a patch of skin that is newly numb, hard or ulcerated; sudden hair loss in patches, or hair loss alongside fatigue or weight change; or swelling, heat and spreading redness that could be an infection. And if you have had filler treatment anywhere and the area becomes white or mottled, severely painful, or your vision changes, that is an emergency — telephone us immediately if we treated you, and go to an emergency room if you cannot reach somebody within minutes. We would far rather you rang a doctor and never rang us at all.
Almost everybody booking a first appointment has some version of the same worry: that they will end up lying in a chair with their face cleaned, being talked into more than they came for by somebody they met twenty minutes ago. So it is worth saying plainly what actually happens, because it is duller and considerably more useful than that.
The consultation is in a room with a table, two chairs, a window and a mirror you hold yourself. There is no treatment couch in it. You will spend most of the hour talking, and your skin will be looked at in daylight rather than under a treatment lamp, because daylight is the light you live in. You will be told what we think would achieve what you described, what it costs, how many sessions it takes, how long it lasts, what the recovery looks like and what can go wrong — and you will be given all of that on paper to read at home.
A completely normal outcome is that we recommend something cheaper or slower than what you came in asking for, or nothing at all, or a dermatologist. That appointment costs the same as any other, and it is a better result than a treatment that was never going to do what you wanted.
Practical
What to bring, how to arrive, and what it costs
Bring
A list of every medication and supplement you take, including anything that thins the blood and anything for acne; the name of anything you have had injected before and roughly when; and your skincare, in the actual bottles, if you can carry it.
Arrive
Ten minutes early the first time. There is a medical history to complete, and doing it at the desk with a pen beats doing it in the suite with the clock running.
Expect
Sixty minutes, at a table, with your face clean, and no treatment. Most first appointments here end with a written plan and a date rather than with a procedure.
Wear
Whatever you like, but arrive with skin you would recognise — no makeup if you can manage it, and please no spray tan or sunbed in the fortnight before a laser consultation.
Afterwards
Nothing at all, if it was only a consultation. If you did have something done, the specific aftercare is on your written plan, and you can telephone us about anything that worries you at any hour.
Cost
$85 with a clinician, $120 with the medical director, deducted from your first treatment if you go ahead.
The whole course
How treatment runs here, from the booking to the two-week review
Six steps. The fourth and the sixth are the ones most clinics leave out, and between them they are the reason nobody here agrees to something while lying down.
The booking
You pick a clinician and a time from the calendar on /appointments.html, or you telephone and we do it for you. The calendar shows only hours that are genuinely free — it is reading the same schedule the clinician keeps, so an hour on screen is an hour you can have.
A full hour at a table
The consultation happens in a room with a table, two chairs and no treatment couch, because it is very difficult to decline something while lying down with your face cleaned. History first: your health, your medication, what you have had done before, what you are planning in the next three months. Then your skin, in daylight, with a mirror you hold yourself.
What we think, in plain words
You are told what we believe would achieve what you described, what it would cost, how many sessions it usually takes, how long it lasts, what the recovery looks like and what could go wrong. Frequently the recommendation is cheaper or slower than what you came in asking for. Sometimes it is nothing at all.
A written plan, taken home
You leave with it on paper: the treatment, the price, the risks and the aftercare, so that you read the risk section somewhere other than a treatment room with a clinician waiting. Nothing is booked at that appointment unless you ask for it to be.
The treatment itself
In a private suite, with the same clinician, with everything explained again before it starts. You can stop at any point, including after we have begun, and nobody will talk you through something you have said you want to stop.
A review, at two weeks
Free, and in our diary whether or not it is in yours. Injectables are judged at two weeks rather than on the day; skin programmes are judged at three months. This is the appointment where a small adjustment gets made and where we find out honestly whether something worked.
Afterwards
What you leave with
A piece of paper, and a date. Not a treatment, unless you specifically came in for one and had already decided.
- A written plan: the treatment, the number of sessions, and what it should change
- The price, in full, with nothing that appears later
- The risks and the recovery, in writing, to read somewhere other than a treatment room
- An honest statement of how often people are disappointed by this treatment
- The name of a physician or dermatologist, where that is the right answer
- A two-week review already in the diary if you go ahead with an injectable
Questions
First consultation — the questions we are asked most
How long is the first appointment?
A full hour, at a table, in a room that has no treatment couch in it. Most of that hour is history and assessment rather than treatment, because working out what would actually achieve what you described is the part that determines whether anything afterwards is worth doing.
Will I be treated at that appointment?
Usually not, and never for a first injectable treatment. You leave with a written plan, a written price and the risks on paper, and you book the treatment afterwards if you still want it. Skin treatments and laser sessions are sometimes done the same day once you have consented, and a laser course begins with a test patch rather than a full treatment in any case.
What should I bring?
A list of every medication and supplement you take, including anything that thins the blood and anything for acne; the name of anything you have had injected before and roughly when; and your skincare, in the actual bottles, if you can carry it. A photograph of the boxes is fine and more accurate than memory.
How should I turn up?
With skin you would recognise. No makeup if you can manage it, because we assess in daylight rather than under a treatment lamp, and no spray tan or sunbed in the fortnight before a laser consultation — a tan changes what is safe to do and will simply move your appointment.
What does it cost, and what if I decide against everything?
$85 with a clinician or $120 with the medical director, and it costs the same whether it ends in a treatment plan or in us telling you that the answer is nothing, or a dermatologist. If you do go ahead, the fee comes off your first treatment. Deciding against something is a normal outcome and nobody will telephone you about it afterwards.
Can somebody come in with me?
Yes, always. If you would be more comfortable with somebody in the room for any reason at all, bring them — you do not need to explain why and nobody will ask. For anybody under eighteen a parent or guardian must be present for the whole appointment, and we do not perform cosmetic injectable treatment on anybody under eighteen at all.
Aesthetic treatment is elective medicine, and this page is not medical advice for you. Aesthetic treatment is elective, it is medicine wherever it breaks the skin, and nothing on this website is medical advice for you in particular. We do not diagnose disease. Every treatment here begins with a consultation and a medical history, because your health, your medication, your skin type and what you have had done before all change what is safe and what is sensible. Some people are told no. Being told no is a normal outcome of a consultation here rather than a failure of one, and it costs exactly the same as being told yes.
No before-and-after photographs, and no promised outcome. There are no before-and-after photographs on this website and there never will be. Every set you have seen somewhere else was chosen from a much larger pile, and the second picture is usually taken in different light, at a different angle, at a different time of day, often with makeup and frequently after retouching. Even an entirely honest pair shows you what happened to somebody else's face. What we publish instead is what a treatment typically changes, by roughly how much, how long it lasts, how many sessions it usually takes and how often people are disappointed. We do not guarantee an outcome, we cannot, and anybody who does is either guessing or selling.
A written plan and a written price before anything is booked
Book a consultation
Pick a clinician and an hour from the calendar — it shows only the times each of them genuinely has free. A consultation is a full hour at a table with no treatment couch in the room, and it costs $85, or $120 with the medical director. If you go ahead, that comes off your first treatment. If we tell you the answer is nothing, or a dermatologist, it costs exactly the same.