You Get What They Pay For
Doctors, like everyone else, are sometimes dazzled by sales pitches, even sales pitches for $100,000 lasers. And doctors, like everyone else, are sometimes dazzled by their monthly stack of bills. In order to keep their financial house in order, they must commit to selling the services that will compensate them for their purchases.
That is why if you took a patient with obviously weathered skin to 10 different dermatologists, you would most likely get 10 different approaches. It’s not just the money they’ve invested that dictates their suggestions; it’s the time they’ve invested learning it and the comfort level they’ve achieved using that machine or approach.
Doctors are often expected and actually pressured by many of their patients to get these machines, and often have the specter of losing patients to other practices haunting them into keeping invested in the current trends. As there is no Consumer Reports-style magazine for cosmetic lasers or radio frequency machines, they have to go on what they hear through the grapevine and what research documentation the supplier can provide. Even if, after purchasing the machine, they find it doesn’t quite fulfill its early promise, they would be sabotaging themselves if they told you they were disappointed.
Listen carefully to what they say. Most doctors will try to give you a realistic impression of what to expect, but its human nature to only hear what we want to. It’s also the nature of skin treatments that results vary from person to person. Often, when asked what results one should expect, patients are given a percentage range. So, if the doctor tells you that you will see anywhere from a 20% to 40% improvement, instead of assuming the higher range, ask yourself if the investment is worth the 20%.
There are new machines being launched into the medical market all the time, and doctors are extremely busy people. If they’ve committed to their Fraxel laser or what have you, they are not going to be researching other machines in their spare time, nor will they have the hands-on experience really required to sort the reality from the sales pitch. Don’t expect them to know if the Fraxel is the best option for your complaint versus Thermage, or some other new technology they haven’t invested in.
It’s worth conducting your own research and arranging several consultations to determine which approach you prefer.
