New Hampshire moms’ Facebook groups: how to ask good questions about Botox and filler

Jun 8

The New Hampshire moms’ Facebook pages are full of posts asking the wrong questions about local aesthetic injectors.

“Where do you guys get the best price on Botox?”

“Anyone offering specials or model pricing for lip filler?”

“Where do you go for Botox where they don’t water it down?”

They’re asked constantly in New Hampshire mom groups, and it shows how hard it can be to evaluate aesthetic providers before deciding to let them near our faces. Of course, the cost matters and I don’t encourage anyone to have a treatment they can’t comfortably afford, but cheap Botox can carry more risk than its worth.

What to ask a Botox provider in NH before you let them stab you.

Knowing what I know about medical aesthetics, I want my provider to be well educated on a product’s use, human anatomy, and complications management. Here are some questions you can ask at a consultation to help you get a better feel for whether they are a good fit for you:

What kind of training have you had in this field?

Ask specifically about who hosted the training. Have they only had training from the pharmaceutical companies that make the product, or have they had independent training from individuals not directly benefiting from its sale? Private trainings are more expensive, but far, far more comprehensive and unbiased. In fact, pharmaceutical companies are only allowed to train on things that they have FDA approval for. That means for most botulinum toxin treatments, they’ve only actually been trained on frown lines (11’s), forehead, and crows feet. Not masseters, not neck bands, and certainly not lower face (around the mouth) treatments. Anything they offer you there may have been learned on YouTube.

You need to be even more careful asking questions for a filler treatment. Remember the “How-screwed-am-I-if-I-hate-it” graph? (If you haven’t seen it yet, check it out here) Filler falls high up on that scale, closest to facelift surgery. Ask the provider how many trainings they have had on filler. I can tell you one training gets you started, but as I have practiced, I have needed continued trainings to learn more detail, more anatomy, and more complications management. It is most certainly not a one-and-done situation.

2. Can you explain my anatomy and the proposed treatment?

If they give you a single sentence answer, they don’t know enough. The human face has many layers of tissue, each playing an important role in designing a treatment. When you ask, their answer should include at least a mention of blood vessels, fat, muscle, and skin. While we all have these layers, individual anatomy matters a lot, too. Don’t expect to get the same result your sister did with the same treatment. Ask about what result you can realistically expect with your anatomy. If you ask and they don’t sound like they really know what they’re talking about, tuck tail and run. Without at least a cursory understanding of the involved structures, you cannot give informed consent for a treatment, which is required by law.

3. Finally, what are potential complications and how will we manage them?

Again, this is part of an informed consent and required by law. You should be aware of what you would see or experience if you were having a complication, and how you would contact your provider if you have a concern. For complications arising from filler especially, time is of the essence, and a Friday complication seen on Monday is too late. Your provider should be able to inform you of how they will respond, what tools they have on hand to respond (you can even ask them if they have dissolving medicine, hyaluronidase, on site), and who they would refer you to if they were unable to manage a complication. Do they have a medical director? Does that person have any experience or training managing complications?

A final note

The credentials of your provider matter in that it is only legal for medical professionals to inject Botox or fillers, but beyond that they don’t tell you much. I’ve seen some of the worst results from the most highly educated professionals, because they couldn’t answer the above questions. Just because someone is a plastic surgeon, doesn’t mean they’re good at Botox. And just because someone is a very young-looking RN, doesn’t mean she isn’t way more qualified to be your provider. We are in the business of staying young, after all.

Armed with these questions, you can feel confident evaluating whether a provider will keep you as safe as possible. Beyond that? Trust your gut. Do you vibe with this person? Great, go for it. Just remember: vibes won't dissolve your filler when something goes wrong.

Book your free consultation at Relevé Medical Aesthetics in Amherst, NH to find out if we are a good fit for you.