HealthCert Blog

Medical aesthetics is a booming industry, with Australians now spending 40 per cent more per capita than Americans on cosmetic treatments every year (and growing!). Anti-ageing injections such as Botulinum toxin are one of the most popular treatments, driven by an emerging market of Millenials (people born in the 1980s and 90s) hoping to maintain a more youthful appearance.

For primary care practitioners, this presents an opportunity to expand their service offering in order to meet patient demand and address patients’ cosmetic concerns from a medical approach.

What are anti-ageing injections?
Anti-ageing injections are neurotoxins such as Botulinum toxin that block signals between nerves and muscles, preventing the muscle from contracting. This leads to a softening of wrinkles and lines on the skin, as the muscles that cause them are immobilised.

Treatments can last up to four months and patients need less frequent “maintenance” over time. The most common treatment sites include the lip and mouth areas, the brow, the under-eyes and corners of the eyes, the masseter muscles and TMJ, and the neck and décolletage.

Neurotoxins can also be used to treat other concerns such as hyperhidrosis (excessive sweating), gummy smile, migraines, and teeth grinding.

Where do patients go for anti-ageing injections?
Some beauty spas offer non-surgical cosmetic treatments such as laser, facials and anti-ageing injections. These services are typically not offered with a medical emphasis and instead focus on comfort and convenience.

Increasingly, patients are visiting a certified doctor such as their family GP to tackle ageing concerns. Doctors are more likely to address patients’ needs from a holistic point of view and consider their medical history and circumstances, crafting a long-term action plan rather than a short-term fix. Doctors are also better equipped to handle any complications that may arise with these medical procedures and can offer a high level of comfort and safety for the patient.

Why adding anti-ageing injections to your practice?
General practitioners are ideally placed to offer aesthetic services such as anti-ageing injections in primary care, as they already share a rapport with their patients and may like to offer a more comprehensive portfolio of services in their day-to-day work or complement the services they already offer.

Aesthetic services can also add non-Medicare based revenue to the practice, with a large pre-existing patient base that will frequently and regularly return for maintenance treatments. This will help build overall patient loyalty.

The procedures are very fast to deliver, non-surgical and non-invasive, with minimal downtime and immediate results for the patient. The delivery of many treatments in general practice requires minimum set-up and marketing cost and will deliver immediate profitable results for the practice.

As an added bonus, delivering aesthetic services facilitates doctors to perform more procedural work in their everyday practice while working one-on-one with their patients and building long-term relationships. They can also help increase patients’ self-confidence and help them to feel good about themselves.

To learn more, please join us at the next Certificate Courses in Aesthetic Medicine.

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