Mastering patient consultations and expert injection planning

Want to know the answer to the question, how do you achieve the best result for your patient? It always starts with the consultation.

In this blog, Dr Tim Pearce discusses multiple elements you need to understand and apply to achieve great results in your clinic. The secrets behind effective consultations and strategic injection planning – that are simple when you know them – will help you exceed your patients’ expectations and boost their confidence. Learn more about the process of guiding a patient during a consultation to achieve a much better result than they may be expecting or asking for. Watch Dr Tim’s full tutorial video discussing patient consultations and injection planning for beautiful results.

If you are interested in learning more about facial anatomy to become a great injector and find your route to safer delivery and millimetre precision, get signed up for the Ultimate 3D Anatomy Experience from Dr Tim Pearce.

Medical professionals are taught anatomy in 2D textbooks, but in real life, anatomy is not flat. This educational opportunity is specifically for aesthetic injectors to help you level up your anatomy knowledge, get comfortable with anatomical variations, and boost your injection safety and confidence in a way that no cadaver course could ever deliver.

The aesthetic consultation is King

The aesthetic journey always starts with the consultation, affirms Dr Tim. First things first, you must establish what your patient wants. But remember, this is often different from what they initially asked for. You are the aesthetic practitioner, the “expert on faces”, but they are the expert on themselves, and their face. They will often present in your clinic and ask for something that is along the right lines, but lack your knowledge and training, and may ask for the wrong treatment, or have some elements in place but not enough to understand the full treatment plan that will deliver their desired goal – this is where you come in.

The conversation and consultation with Alisha, his patient, was key in this case study. Dr Tim sought to use the three elements of consultation to achieve a tri-factor diagnosis – the psychological, anatomical, and aesthetic diagnoses.

Tri-factor consultation: Psychological diagnosis

Dr Tim needed to understand that Alisha wanted to be more beautiful, she requested lip treatment to achieve this desire, but he was aware there might be more things he could do for her once he understood her primary goal. The diagnosis starts with the psychology – what does the patient want?

Alisha is a young woman, in the prime of her life, who wanted to feel amazing. She wanted to go out, be more extroverted, connect with more people, form relationships and build a better life because of the empowerment provided by a good appearance which delivers confidence. Psychological and social health is an interface between how people perceive and receive you and how you feel when in front of people; this is how aesthetic practitioners try to empower our patients.

He points out that patients do not always reveal exactly what they seek, their real outcome or desire – “I want to feel gorgeous” or similar – and you must tease the truth out of them. Eventually, they will trust you and admit their core desire. Once you have ascertained the overarching want, it will be appropriate to talk about other elements of the face you can address to achieve the goal. However, Dr Tim cautions that unless you have been invited to discuss additional areas of the face, it is deeply inappropriate to mention them.

A good consultation is about getting the patient to open up more, so they are receptive to hearing about other ways of improving their appearance. Many aesthetic practitioners fail to realise the correct approach to consultation and can feel awkward about giving the patient the right advice including recommending alternatives to their original request – patients must trust that you are on their side and with them through the journey.

Alisha initially requested lip treatment, but after further discussion on the real outcome she desired, reviewing her anatomy and her aesthetic desires during the consultation, Dr Tim treated her chin, nose, and lips to achieve her goal. He explains how the additional elements of the consultation guided his treatment plan leading to the treatment of more areas.

Tri-factor consultation: Anatomical diagnosis

Moving on to a facial analysis of Alisha, the primary thought remains the goal outlined by the psychological diagnosis – although Alisha asked for a lip treatment, her goal was much more broadly holistic, (to feel more beautiful, and more positive about herself), thus Dr Tim had an ‘official invitation’ to discuss her full face when approaching an anatomical review and diagnosis.

When undertaking this part of the consultation, the first thing Dr Tim does is point out the positives to his patients, discussing their strengths. In Alisha’s case, he highlighted her fantastic eyebrows, lack of lines and wrinkles, good forehead contours, the strong definition of her cheeks and transition at the periorbital ridge with a strong under-brow reflection, almond-shaped eyes, the high-point of her cheek, with good cheek volume and cheek apex, rounding out a great mid and upper face. This enabled him to move on to discuss areas of perceived weakness; for Alisha, this was in her lower face which appeared relatively small compared to her more dominant upper face. This was evidenced by the jowl area, which was competing against the chin. The chin was higher than the jawline. Ideals of beauty highlight that chin projection should be in parallel with the nasion (or bridge of the nose).

Tri-factor consultation: Aesthetic diagnosis

To harmonise Alisha’s anatomy and make her more beautiful, Dr Tim suggested adding volume to her chin to make it more dominant – projecting it outwards (anteriorly) and downwards (inferiorly) – and balancing it with the jowl, whilst respecting the dimple at the patient’s request. Doing so would also make the case for treating the lips to make them much stronger because, despite being in proportion, they were small in relation to her chin, and would benefit from treatment to make them more dominant in a vertical plane.

The goal of treatment was to create a better jawline and lower face terminating in the apex of the chin. Dr Tim also tweaked her nose to correct a small angle anomaly and make it a straighter line. The results are subtle but striking.

The longevity lens: making aesthetic treatments a life investment

Dr Tim is focusing his aesthetic practice through a longevity lens, considering how cosmetic interventions will help patients live longer, healthier, and happier lives.

The face is a tool for human connection. When people feel confident, they engage and form relationships differently, and do things they otherwise would not do. Our goal as aesthetic clinicians is to improve their behaviour and relationship-building, not just their appearance.

Read more blogs on integrating longevity into your aesthetic practice.

Alisha gave Dr Tim a lovely follow-up story explaining how her behaviour had changed after her treatment. She went shopping and bought several new lipsticks, and she connected better with her partner because she felt more confident. The aesthetic intervention has supported a young female who is building relationships that may last an entire lifetime, notes Dr Tim, and may help her and her family live a healthier, longer life because she feels more confident to do more in her life.

Dr Tim recommends considering talking to your patients through the longevity lens during their consultation because it removes a lot of the stigma and the inner battle that patients often face when choosing to control aspects of their appearance with medical aesthetic treatments.

For additional blogs from Dr Tim to help you with consultation skills, read up on:

• Treating a patient with a medical aesthetic intervention – How do you justify your decision to treat a patient with a medical aesthetic intervention?
• How to manage patient expectations and avoid complaints like a Pro
• Managing patient expectations: “I want to look like a celeb”
• How to tell a patient that they are overdone

You can also download The Medical Model for Cosmetic Procedures: An Essential Guide.

If you have any tips to share, case studies to discuss, or questions; you can find Dr Tim Pearce on Instagram.

Anatomy360 - The Ultimate 3D Anatomy Course

Understanding facial anatomy is crucial for precise filler placement and achieving natural, balanced results. Knowledge of anatomical structures and vascular supply not only helps in avoiding complications but also enhances the overall effectiveness of treatments.

Dr Tim Pearce's anatomy course delivers a thorough understanding of facial anatomy through 12 online lessons. Tim says:

“The problem is we’re taught anatomy in 2D textbooks, but real-life anatomy isn’t flat. In order to feel confident with injecting and to get that millimetre by millimetre precision that increases safety, we need more detail. That’s why I’ve created the ultimate Anatomy learning experience specifically for aesthetic injectors. It’s going to help you up-level your anatomy knowledge and boost your injection safety & confidence in a way that no cadaver course could ever.”

Anatomy360 Course

Aesthetics Mastery Show

Mastering Patient Consultations: Expert Injection Planning for Beautiful Results

Dr Tim says:

“In this video, you’ll follow the transformative journey of Alicia, who initially sought a simple lip treatment but left with a beautifully enhanced chin, nose, and lips. After speaking with Alicia and uncovering her true end goal, it became obvious that this was more than just a lip treatment. Discover the secrets behind effective consultations and strategic injection planning that will help you exceed your patients’ expectations and boost their confidence.”

Watch the full Aesthetics Mastery Show here.

Other practitioners have commented with their views, saying:

@bihtersweetpie

“Muscles manipulate distances on face there fore they manipulate volume. Initially. Later we will take care of adipose but muscle is urgent bc it is a fast tissue.

“Aftersome time it should occur to ppl that face has different dimensions within it and when they change they create a certain outcome. Muscle plays a role because it is the most active tissue. once we pull its affect back, suddenly now face has a great loss, great distortion among all of its pieces.”

See feedback and comments from practitioners and clients on our YouTube channel – feel free to join the debate!

You can also subscribe to our YouTube channel for really useful regular tips and advice.  

Injectable eLearning Courses

If you want to increase your knowledge about safe and effective injectable treatments, Dr Tim Pearce offers a series of fabulous courses, starting with our popular foundation courses:

• Dermal Fillers Foundation Course
• BOTOX® Foundation Course

Courses include CPD and certificates on completion and are highly rated by our delegates.

In addition, browse our FREE downloadable resources.

Dr Tim Pearce eLearning

Dr Tim Pearce MBChB BSc (Hons) MRCGP founded his eLearning concept in 2016 in order to provide readily accessible BOTOX® and dermal filler online courses for fellow Medical Aesthetics practitioners. His objective was to raise standards within the industry – a principle which remains just as relevant today.

Our exclusive video-led courses are designed to build confidence, knowledge and technique at every stage, working from foundation level to advanced treatments and management of complications.

Thousands of delegates have benefited from the courses and we’re highly rated on Trustpilot. For more information or to discuss which course is right for you, please get in touch with our friendly team.