1. Who is treating me, and what is your registration
Ask for the full registered name and registration number, and check it afterwards on the relevant public register. Aesthetic practitioner, aesthetician and clinical director are not protected titles and tell you nothing.
Good answer: a name, a profession, a number, given immediately. Poor answer: a description of training courses, a certificate on the wall, or an explanation of why registration is not really relevant. Our guide to checking a registration covers where to look.
2. Who prescribed this, and have they assessed me
Only relevant where a prescription only medicine is involved, which means botulinum toxin and hyaluronidase. The medicine must be prescribed for you as a named patient by an appropriate prescriber, and professional guidance is that the prescriber assesses you in person.
Good answer: I am the prescriber, or, the prescriber is Dr So and So and you will see them before we proceed. Poor answer: it is all arranged, or, our prescriber signs everything off. See who can prescribe.
3. Are these premises registered with Healthcare Improvement Scotland
Registration depends on whether a regulated healthcare professional provides the service, so a no is not automatically a problem. What you are listening for is whether the answer is accurate and whether the person understands their own regulatory position.
Poor answer: any reference to the Care Quality Commission, which regulates in England, or a claim of regulation by a body that is actually a voluntary register or a training provider.
4. What product, how much, and exactly where
The product name, the quantity in units or millilitres, and the specific sites and depths. For filler, which gel and why that gel for that site.
Poor answer: an area count with no dose, a brand name with no quantity, or a refusal on the basis that it is proprietary. It is your treatment record.
5. What will this not achieve
Perhaps the single most revealing question in the list, because it invites the practitioner to argue against their own sale.
Good answer: a specific limitation relevant to your face. Poor answer: nothing, everyone loves it, or a redirection to a photograph.
6. What are the common risks, and what are the serious ones
You want both, separately. The common and expected, and the rare and serious with what to do about them. For filler, the answer must include vascular occlusion. If it does not, the risk discussion is incomplete. See vascular occlusion.
7. What happens if I have a problem at nine on a Sunday night
Ask for the mechanism, not the reassurance. A number that reaches a clinician, a stated response time, and a named person who manages complications.
Poor answer: message us on social media, or, that has never happened. The second is not a plan and the first is not a clinical service.
8. Do you hold hyaluronidase, and who can prescribe it
For any hyaluronic acid filler treatment, this is the question that matters most in an emergency. The answer needs to cover both parts: is it here, and can somebody lawfully prescribe it for me quickly.
9. Is a review included, when, and does an adjustment cost extra
A two week review for toxin and a two to four week review for filler are reasonable expectations. Find out whether they are included and whether a small adjustment at review is charged.
10. What is your policy if I am unhappy or something needs correcting
Ask for it in writing. Very few clinics publish one and almost every patient assumes an answer that has never been agreed. Dissolving costs money and it is better to know that today.
11. What does this cost over a year, not today
Multiply the recommended frequency by the price and decide about that figure. Add maintenance for anything sold as a course. Our page on packages, courses and memberships covers the arithmetic.
12. Can I have a copy of the treatment record
Product, batch, dose, sites, date and who administered it. You are entitled to your record where it is held by a healthcare provider, and having it makes every future treatment better informed. The Information Commissioner's Office explains how to make a request if one is refused.
Using the list without being difficult
You do not need to read out twelve questions like an inspection. Three of them, asked naturally, will tell you most of what you need: who prescribed this and have they seen me; what will this not do; and what happens if there is a problem on Sunday night.
The rest are worth having in reserve. And the whole list works best when combined with the observations in what a good consultation looks like, because how the questions are received matters as much as how they are answered.