Ethical in Aesthetics: Practices in Non-Surgical Treatments Explained

In this episode of the “Anti-Aging Insights” podcast, Dr. Teri Fisher dives into the crucial topic of ethics in non-surgical aesthetics. He highlights the importance of ethical considerations in treatments like Botox and fillers, emphasizing that patient welfare and safety are paramount. Dr. Fisher begins by defining ethics in healthcare, which he believes revolves around always doing what’s right for the patient, regardless of other factors like financial gain.

One of the central themes discussed is patient safety, which Dr. Fisher identifies as the cornerstone of his practice. He stresses that any procedure must prioritize safety over aesthetics and explains the importance of honest conversations with clients about the risks involved. When a treatment poses significant risks, he advocates for either detailed discussions or outright refusal to perform the procedure.

Informed consent is another vital aspect Dr. Fisher covers, explaining that it requires ensuring patients fully understand the risks, benefits, and alternatives of any treatment. This understanding should lead to a two-way conversation where both the practitioner and the patient agree on the best course of action.

Transparency and confidentiality are also crucial ethical pillars Dr. Fisher discusses. He underscores the importance of being completely honest with clients, even when it means saying no to a procedure. Additionally, maintaining client confidentiality helps build trust and reassures clients that their personal information is secure.

Dr. Fisher also talks about the necessity for healthcare providers to stay competent and up-to-date with the latest treatments and techniques. Realistic expectations, he notes, are fundamental to client satisfaction and should be established early on to prevent disappointment.

He also addresses the impact of social media on client expectations and stresses the need for practitioners to help clients distinguish between realistic and misleading information found online. Lastly, Dr. Fisher touches upon the importance of equal opportunity in aesthetic treatments, ensuring that all clients are treated fairly and without bias.

Key Insights

• Patient safety is the top priority and a fundamental aspect of ethical non-surgical aesthetic practice.
• Informed consent is critical, involving comprehensive communication about risks, benefits, and alternatives between the practitioner and the client.
• Confidentiality in patient information, including personal and psychosocial details, is essential for ethical practice and fosters trust.
• Practitioners must stay competent by continuously updating their knowledge and skills through education and conferences.
• Setting realistic expectations, especially in the face of misinformation from social media, is vital to maintain ethical standards and client satisfaction.

Episode Transcript

Dr. Teri Fisher: Hey there and welcome to this week’s episode of the podcast. This week is all about ethics in aesthetics and, well, more specifically ethics in non surgical aesthetics. And of course that means things like Botox, fillers, all kinds of injectables. And when it comes to doing these types of treatments, it is an area that I believe a practitioner should be very ethical. I think that has a lot to do with ultimately the relationship that you have with a patient or client, and what you choose to do and what the client is comfortable with. And so today I want to talk about a few of these different types of ethical dilemmas and ethical issues that arise when doing non surgical aesthetic treatments.

So first of all, let’s define a little bit more about what ethics means. When it comes to health care, I think of it in terms of doing what is right for the patient regardless of any other confounding factors. Doing what’s right when it comes to patient welfare, doing what’s right when it comes to patient safety, doing what’s right when it comes to even the finances of these types of treatments. Ultimately, the key word is doing what’s right. There sometimes may be pressure to do things that may mean that a practitioner makes more money, if I’m perfectly frank. But I think being an ethical practitioner means doing what’s right for the patient.

For me, what that means is doing things that align with professional standards, doing things that align with patient welfare, doing things that align with societal expectations. And sometimes that can go against what one might want to do. A perfect example is money. When a practitioner does an elective non surgical aesthetic procedure, they’re getting paid for that. And so sometimes money can be a motivating factor for a practitioner. If that is compromising what is right for the patient, then I think that is non ethical. And so hopefully that gives you a little bit of a sense of what ethics means to me. And, ultimately, I want to highlight now some of these issues where ethics can play a role, and a practitioner has to be very, very aware of what is happening with those interactions with patients or clients.

Now, the first thing that I’d like to talk about with regards to ethics is patient safety. Patient safety is the bedrock of my practice, as you may know. It is the number one priority for me when I am doing any type of treatment. Patient safety is very important from an ethical standpoint because there are lots of things that can be done, lots of things that could potentially help the appearance of someone, help them feel better, but if it is not a safe way of doing things or if it is not a safe procedure, period, and you know that as a practitioner and you go ahead and you do things in a non safe manner, then again, I don’t think that is ethical. What is ethical in that circumstance is to explain to the client, “Hey, I know this is what you want done. We could do it, but this is more risky.” And I think it’s very important to either have that discussion, number one, or number two, if it is truly risky and the patient doesn’t have that medical knowledge to make that decision, then the practitioner should be making that decision for them and saying, “hey, this is not safe and the risks here outweigh the benefits and we should not be doing it.” so that is why safety is so important and is the number one priority for me. And it is above all else when it comes to doing any type of procedure.

The next topic with regards to ethics is all about informed consent, and this is a little bit relevant to the previous topic of safety as well. Informed consent really means that a client understands what it is that they’re going to be having done to them when it comes to the treatment. That means understanding the risks. It also means understanding the benefits. It also means understanding alternatives. And that takes time. It takes time for a practitioner to explain that to a client. It takes time for the client to be able to understand and of course ask questions back if something is not clear. But this is critically important because only when the client has a good understanding and has given informed consent to the practitioner to do the treatment, can we actually go ahead. Sometimes, after being informed of all of the different variables as I mentioned, a client may decide not to do something, or after the discussion, a practitioner may decide that it’s in their best interest not to do something. In some cases, saying no is the most ethical practice. And so informed consent, although it is the client giving the informed consent to the practitioner, I actually think of it as a two-way street because the client can only do that when they have good communication with their healthcare provider.

Also, along those lines, transparency is very important. I think it’s critically important for a practitioner to be transparent with a client and say, “you know what? I hear what you want, but I don’t think I can do that.” And that’s also part of that consenting process and also being transparent. And again, in some cases, ‘no’ may be the best course of action.

Now another aspect of ethical practice is all about confidentiality. Even though this is an elective procedure, when you come to get neuromodulator or filler, it is still a medical procedure and there are ethical guidelines that practitioners must follow and that includes being confidential with any information that is exchanged. So, of course, when I have a discussion with a client and they tell me what they want, that is completely confidential, particularly the psychosocial aspects of that. If there’s a way that you’re feeling and the goal of this treatment is to help to bring up more confidence, sometimes those thoughts are private, they’re personal. And of course those are confidential. So, again, ethical practice is being confidential with any information that is shared with the practitioner. Essentially, that can be summarized by saying that any conversation that happens in the consultation room stays in the consultation room. And I think that actually goes a long way to develop trust as well between a practitioner and a client, which is very important to the overall results.

Now, of course, competence is another very important ethical factor. Healthcare providers have a duty to stay informed, to stay up to date, to be knowledgeable of what the latest treatments and practices are. I think it’s important that you can ask your practitioner, your healthcare provider, your injector, what is it that they’re doing to stay up to date, if you’d like to know that. That’s a totally fair question. I can tell you that it’s something that I really enjoy doing. I love learning, I go to as many conferences as I possibly can, and it’s really fun, and it’s really interesting to see different techniques and pick up the latest technologies. And so, again, getting back to the topic at hand here, I think it’s just ethical practice for practitioners to stay up to date and have that eagerness to want to learn the new techniques.

Now I think another topic is realistic expectations. This does touch a little bit on what I’ve already described, but I think it’s important when you’re having those discussions with clients, as a practitioner, to talk about what is a realistic expectation and what is an unrealistic expectation, and I think those are very, very important because if a client comes in with unrealistic expectations, it’s not good for anyone. They’re not going to be happy with the outcome because it wasn’t achievable. It wasn’t going to be achievable to begin with. And then the practitioner is not going to be happy with that either because they weren’t able to fulfill what the client was expecting. And so having a discussion about expectations up front before any type of treatment happens is very important. And again, that is something that I take very, very seriously.

Now, one of the more newer challenges that we’re seeing is with regards to social media and the effects of social media on expectations. There’s lots of stuff out there with social media and it’s a double edged sword. Some of the stuff is fantastic, some of the stuff is really educational, some of the stuff is really entertaining, and it teaches us a lot about what is available and what we can do with these aesthetic treatments.

On the other hand, some of the stuff is horrible, some of the stuff is misinformed, some of the stuff is downright false, and patients can come in, clients can come in, and they can be asking about things that they saw on social media. It’s ethical for a practitioner to discuss those and again, getting back to what is realistic, what is not realistic, what is accurate, what is false and educating the client. If you don’t do that, this can lead to unrealistic expectations, poor outcomes, mistrust, and it can essentially lead to unhappy clients and unhappy practitioners. So, when it comes to social media. Yes, by all means, feel free to bring things in and show it to your practitioner, but expect to have a conversation about that and talk about what is actually realistic and what is not.

Another topic is with regards to equal opportunity. And what I mean by that is that there should not be any biased or any prejudiced against any type of client that’s coming in. Everybody, anybody that wants to get treatments, of course, should given what we’ve talked about already, if it’s appropriate, they should be allowed to have treatments. There is a misconception sometimes out there that certain types of people are more deserving of certain treatments. And I think that’s very unfortunate. I think that’s false. And so I think it’s just important for everyone to realize that there’s no reason why somebody’s more deserving of an aesthetic treatment than someone else. Everybody gets equal opportunity. Again, assuming all the other things that we talked about are appropriate, then let’s have that discussion and see what we can do to help you.

So I hope that has given you a little bit of insight into the types of thoughts that a practitioner will have when they want to practice good ethics in aesthetics. And I think that is so important. I hope that has given you a little bit of an insight into the way I think about it as well. And as always, thank you so much for tuning in.

If you would like to have a discussion about any of this, feel free to reach out to me on Instagram or on my website. I’m happy to chat with you. And of course, come on in, have a consultation with me in the clinic, and I’d be happy to chat with you there as well.

Thanks for tuning in. It’s a pleasure chatting with you this week, and I look forward to chatting with you again next week. Until then, be well, take care, talk to you soon.