Excellent results depend more on the surgeon than the equipment

In cosmetic procedures, pleasing outcomes are achieved by the talented surgeon/proceduralist and not necessarily by the brand of equipment or product used. An excellent piano can enhance a great pianist's performance. However a mediocre pianist cannot generate a great performance even on the best of pianos. Technology and pharmaceutical filler companies  may well claim that their particular laser or filler generates exceptional cosmetic results. The truth is that excellent outcomes are in the hands of the proceduralist. It follows that a talented proceduralist will utilise quality equipment and products to optimise creative efforts.
Patients understandably can fall prey to commercial hype about injectables, fillers and equipment.
However a syringe or two of the same filler can be used creatively for facial enhancement or injudiciously to the detriment of a face. It depends so much more on the ability and quality of the proceduralist rather than the claimed merits of the injectable product or equipment used.
It has become apparent that successful cosmetic outcomes are being achieved consistently by experienced "boutique" based proceduralists, where every patient is assessed and treated as an individual challenge. This is the artist's studio rather than the factory floor sweatshop.
In my experience this standard is rarely seen in the outcomes of the cosmetic supermarket like clinics where time/profit work ratio standards rule.
Some cosmetic proceduralists  have achieved truly artisan levels of creativity in their minimally invasive work and deserve due recognition for their excellence. More about this in a future post.

Medical Aesthetics Incorporated

With the growth of corporate medical cosmetic clinics expanding dramatically here in Australia, one reads with surprise that in California USA (that epicentre of cosmetic surgery) regulations on who can own and run a medical clinic are quite tough.

For example regarding the "Corporate Practice of Medicine" :

The following types of medical practice ownership and operating structures also are prohibited:

• Non-physicians owning or operating a business that offers patient evaluation, diagnosis, care and/or treatment.
• Physician(s) operating a medical practice as a limited liability company, a limited liability partnership, or a general corporation.
• Management service organizations arranging for, advertising, or providing medical services rather than only providing administrative staff and services for a physician's medical practice (non-physician exercising controls over a physician's medical practice, even where physicians own and operate the business).
• A physician acting as "medical director" when the physician does not own the practice. For example, a business offering spa treatments that include medical procedures such as Botox injections, laser hair removal, and medical microdermabrasion, that contracts with or hires a physician as its "medical director."

from:
http://www.mbc.ca.gov/licensee/corporate_practice.html


Apparently here in Australia non-medical entrepreneur owned cosmetic surgery chains are enjoying great financial success.

Discerning patients should always reflect upon the issues of ethical care and management in treatment delivery in any potential clinical experience and  perhaps take a keen interest in who owns and operates a medical clinic before committing to a medical cosmetic procedure.