Before you visit a skin clinic: how to choose a good one

Skin clinic ads everywhere, and more reviews than you can count. It’s easy to lose your way in all of that. There’s the hope patients bring to their search for an honest clinic, and there are the practical concerns a doctor faces in the consulting room. Over the past nine years, I’ve seen and experienced both sides. Today, from a doctor's perspective, I would like to tell you about the criteria for selecting a hospital with a minimum level of conscience and skills, with the only criterion being the patient's benefit. Standing on the patient's side, we will point out three criteria for choosing a 'really good hospital' along with some truths about the industry that may be a little uncomfortable.

Table of Contents

Do you set your own customized energy and is there a proper record chart? If the main treatment is [TuneFace, InMode, Titanium, ONDA], be suspicious. This is a place where the doctor, not the head of the counseling center, provides direct treatment.

1. Do you set your own customized energy and is there a proper record chart?

The goal of a factory-type system is maximum efficiency. Here, time, cleanliness, and manpower are all converted into 'cost'. I have also heard that some factory-type hospitals do not have charts that record symptoms in detail. The act of carefully recording each patient's energy values ​​on a chart and analyzing the changes during the next procedure may be a 'luxury' in this system. This is because it is in the hospital's interest to treat even one more patient during that time.

So what will the patient experience? There is no ‘data’ about how the treatment was performed last time, with what energy value, or how the skin reacted. Ultimately, all patients receive treatment with the same ‘standard values’. Some hospitals even intentionally perform procedures with less effective energy values ​​to avoid possible side effects or complaints. It is important to continuously find a price that is safe and effective for the patient, but patients end up paying money but repeating the unpleasant experience of no results. There are clear advantages to factory-type hospitals. I can get the procedure quickly and come out at the time I want. There are many skilled doctors. Although it is a matter of choice, I would say that at least my family and friends would tell me to reduce the risks of the procedure. It is a good idea to check whether the doctor provides proper treatment, informs you of the energy level appropriate for your condition, and leaves detailed chart records.

2. If the main treatment is [TuneFace, InMode, Titanium, ONDA], be suspicious.

Recently, devices such as TuneFace, InMode, Titanium, and ONDA have become very popular. This in no way means that these devices are bad. If used properly, it is a great procedure. But these devices have one thing in common. The point is that there is almost no ‘consumable cost’. Why is this a problem? From the hospital's perspective, price competition becomes easier, which means there is a high possibility that it will become a 'bait product'.

First of all, they make you come at a low price, but once you actually visit, they have to recommend other expensive procedures to make a profit. Patients naturally become targets of excessive sales, and there may be a high possibility that the recommended treatment is not suitable for them. What's really important is not 'the name of the equipment' but 'the solution to my problem'.

The reason I am greedy for a variety of equipment is because I need to have a lot of weapons to solve patients' problems. It is a doctor's job to provide the right solution for the patient, but it is dangerous to fit the patient into the only weapon the hospital has.

3. Look for a clinic where the doctor, rather than a sales counsellor, examines you

If you are sick and go to the hospital, it is natural to see a doctor and receive prescriptions. But why did skin care treatments have such a strange structure that a 'counseling director', rather than a doctor, first diagnoses and then decides on the procedure? There are times when a patient lies in the operating room and understands their condition only through the voice of a doctor they have met for the first time, and the patient does not even know the doctor's face. At the core of this structure is ‘incentive’. In many hospitals, counseling staff receive bonuses proportional to sales. This is why the goal is inevitably ‘sales’ rather than accurate diagnosis of patients.

In fact, not long ago, there was a person who came to see me because the tip of his chin was uneven after a chin filler treatment at another hospital. It was an unfortunate case in which the procedure was performed hastily based on the recommendation of a consulting staff member, without medical consideration of bone asymmetry or muscle movement. At this point, you may be thinking:

If the director consults directly Isn't it too expensive?

Of course, it may be a little more expensive, but the difference is often not as big as you think, so we recommend that you consult and compare in person. Additionally, I have seen too many cases where a wrong procedure ends up costing the stomach money. The smart way to save money is clear. Get a proper diagnosis from the start and get the right treatment even just once.

Of course, not all large hospitals only pursue efficiency, and not all single-person clinics are conscientious. Rather than criticizing a specific operating method, this article has been compiled with the hope that you will have 'wise eyes' to distinguish between the good and the bad. Even if it is not our hospital, I sincerely hope that you can find a good hospital and receive wise treatment based on these three criteria I have given you. Thank you.

Cha.I Clinic 3rd floor, Building B, Delight Square 2, 14 World Cup-ro 3-gil, Mapo-gu, Seoul ↗

Original Korean article on Naver ↗