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.
The injection itself is trivial: a small volume into the muscle of the upper arm or the buttock, over about five seconds. Delivered this way, a vitamin bypasses the digestive system entirely, which matters enormously for anybody who cannot absorb it properly — after certain kinds of gastric surgery, with some digestive conditions, or with the specific absorption failure that causes true B12 deficiency.
For those people it is one of the most effective and least expensive treatments in medicine, and correcting a real deficiency makes a genuine difference to fatigue, to nerve symptoms and to blood counts. That is worth being clear about, because the sceptical tone of the rest of this page should not obscure it: where there is a deficiency, this works.
Where there is not one, it does nothing. A vitamin your body does not need is filtered out and excreted, and the widespread claim that B12 injections increase energy in people with normal levels is not supported. That is why we test before we treat, why we will tell you when tablets would do the same job for a fraction of the price, and why there is no course of twelve to buy on this page.
When it genuinely helps
Four situations, all of which involve knowing your levels first.
Documented B12 deficiency
Confirmed on a blood test. Correcting it improves fatigue, nerve symptoms and blood counts, sometimes dramatically. This is real medicine and it is worth having.
An absorption problem
Certain autoimmune conditions, some gastric surgery, and long-term use of some common medications all impair B12 absorption. In those cases oral supplementation may not be enough and injection is the sensible route — usually managed with your physician rather than as a wellness purchase.
A diet with no animal products
Vitamin B12 is not present in plant foods in a usable form, so people eating a strict vegan diet do need a reliable source. For most, an inexpensive oral supplement is entirely sufficient; injections are for those who have become deficient despite it or who cannot absorb it.
Other vitamins
Vitamin D deficiency is very common in this city in winter and is almost always treated orally, cheaply and effectively. If somebody offers you an injection of it as a wellness product, ask why tablets would not do — the usual answer is that they would.
Claims we will not make
Three things vitamin injections are sold with, and the accurate position on each.
More energy, if your levels are normal
Not supported. The perception that an injection gives you energy when you are not deficient is not borne out, and the effect people report is not distinguishable from expectation. If you are persistently exhausted, the useful step is finding out why — which is a doctor and a blood test, not a monthly injection.
Weight loss
There is no vitamin injection that causes weight loss. Some clinics sell combinations marketed for this; the evidence does not support them. We do not offer them and we would suggest treating the offer as a signal about the clinic.
Improved immunity
Correcting a genuine deficiency supports normal function. Extra vitamin beyond that does not boost anything, and the word boost is doing a great deal of unearned work in this industry.
A course of twelve
Not sold here. Where injections are genuinely indicated, the interval is decided by your levels and your symptoms rather than by a package, and it is frequently every few months rather than weekly.
Practicalities
Short, cheap and undramatic — which is how it should be described.
The appointment
Five minutes. An injection into the muscle of the upper arm, a plaster, and you leave. Some aching at the site for a day is normal.
Bring your results
If your physician has already tested you, bring the numbers. If nobody has, we will ask you to be tested before we start rather than treating blind. We do not run blood tests here.
Risks
Minimal: soreness at the site, occasional bruising, rarely an allergic reaction. Very high repeated doses of some vitamins do cause harm, which is why we use standard doses and standard intervals rather than escalating them on request.
We will not treat
Anybody who has not had their levels checked; anybody asking for injections for energy, weight loss or immunity with normal levels; anybody pregnant without their physician's involvement; and anybody wanting doses above the standard range.
Vitamin Injections in western Queens
An intramuscular injection of a specific vitamin, for somebody who has been shown to be deficient in it. Useful and cheap in that case. Pointless in every other case, and we will say so.
Every treatment here starts the same way: a full hour at a table in a room with no treatment couch in it, a proper medical history, your skin looked at in daylight, and then a plain statement of what we think would achieve what you described. You are told what it costs, how many sessions it usually takes, how long it lasts, what the recovery looks like and what can go wrong — on paper, to take home and read somewhere other than a treatment room. If the honest answer is a different treatment, or nothing, or a dermatologist, that is what you get instead, and it costs exactly the same.
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.
The risks, plainly. Every treatment on this site has side effects and some carry real risks. The common ones are minor and short-lived — redness, swelling, tenderness, bruising, a day or two of looking like you have had something done. The uncommon ones matter more: burns, blistering and long-lasting pigment change from light-based treatment, which is a greater risk on deeper skin tones and on recently tanned skin; infection anywhere the skin is broken; and lumps, asymmetry and, very rarely, a blocked blood vessel from injectable filler, which is the one true emergency in this field. We screen for what makes each of these more likely, we tell you your own risk rather than the average one, and we decline to treat when the answer should be no.
What a med spa does not treat. We treat the appearance of healthy skin, hair and body. We do not diagnose or treat disease. If you bring us a mole, a changing mark, an unexplained rash, a sore that will not heal, skin that has become hard or numb, psoriasis, eczema, an autoimmune skin condition, or hair loss that came on suddenly or in patches, what you will get is the name of a doctor rather than a treatment plan. Aesthetic treatment applied on top of an undiagnosed skin problem can mask it, delay the diagnosis and occasionally make it worse. We would rather lose the booking.
Questions
Vitamin Injections — the questions we are asked most
Will a B12 injection give me more energy?
Only if you are deficient. In somebody whose levels are normal, it does not — the vitamin you do not need is excreted, and the effect people describe is not distinguishable from expectation. If you are persistently exhausted, the useful step is a doctor and a blood test to find out why, which is a far better use of your money.
Why do you insist on a blood test first?
Because the treatment works when there is a deficiency and does nothing when there is not, and because persistent fatigue has causes worth finding. Selling injections without testing means treating people who do not need it and missing the ones who have something else going on.
Are tablets as good?
For most people, yes, and considerably cheaper. Oral B12 is well absorbed by anybody without an absorption problem, and oral vitamin D is the standard treatment for deficiency. Injections are for people who cannot absorb it or who have not corrected with tablets. We will tell you which you are.
Do you offer injections for weight loss?
No. There is no vitamin injection that causes weight loss, whatever combination it is marketed under. If a clinic offers you one, that tells you something useful about the clinic. Medically supervised weight management is a different thing entirely and has its own page.
How often should I have one?
Whatever your levels and your symptoms indicate, decided with your physician — often every one to three months for a genuine deficiency, and sometimes far less. Not weekly, and not on a package schedule. We do not sell courses for exactly this reason.
Does it hurt?
Barely. An intramuscular injection into the upper arm takes about five seconds. The site can ache for a day afterwards, in the way a vaccination does.
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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.