Educate, Elevate and Empower – Allergan’s manifesto for the future of aesthetics

As part of 2019’s CCR conference, Allergan, the maker of Juvéderm®, brought together a panel of key players within the medical aesthetics arena to discuss the changes required to establish a new gold standard within medical aesthetics.

The roundtable discussion featured five influential industry stakeholders including: Nancy Ghattas, Allergan’s Associate Vice President UK and Ireland Country Manager: Sherina Balaratnam, Allergan Faculty and Medical Director, S-Thetics; Sharon Bennett, Chair of the British Association of Cosmetic Nurses (BACN), Dr Kathleen Long, Director of Education and Training at The British College of Aesthetic Medicine (BCAM) and Francesca White, Freelance Beauty Editor. 

The panel discussion opened with a reminder of why this conversation is more vital than ever. As the Aesthetics industry continues to thrive, the number of procedures being carried out is greater than ever before. Whilst this is excellent news for everyone in the industry, it also means an increasing number of patients could unknowingly be putting themselves at risk at the hands of practitioners who work with questionable products, within inappropriate premises, and without the necessary training.

The panellists were in firm consensus that to improve not only consumer safety, but also protect the reputation of medical aesthetics as a whole, there are three main goals all delegates of the industry should strive for, helpfully summarised as the Three E’s:

EDUCATE: The importance of thorough practitioner training

“Medical aesthetic injectable treatments are medical procedures and should only be carried out by a trained and qualified healthcare professional (HCP), doctor, dentist or nurse, in an appropriate clinical environment.” — Nancy Ghattas Associate Vice President UK and Ireland Country Manager at Allergan

The Allergan Medical Institute is industry-leading and free of charge for all Allergan customers, offering training and upskilling for all customers (doctors, dentists and nurses), bespoke to their skill level. Fundamentally, this training continues throughout their careers. To meet the needs of the increasingly digitally-focussed world, the AMI Digital platform also delivers 90 separate training modules for all skill levels. 

ELEVATE: Improving and ringfencing patient safety standards

“The way forward for the industry is to move away from the idea that this is some kind of recreational activity. It is not. It can be dangerous in the wrong hands and so we should encourage all practitioners to be certified by an appropriate regulated body.” — Dr Kathleen Long, Director of Education and Training at BCAM

Allergan is committed to ensuring patient safety at all times, and as such only supplies Juvéderm® directly to doctors, dentists, selected pharmacies and nurses (including those who do not hold an NIP qualification).

EMPOWER: Arm consumers with the information required to make informed decisions

“The younger age group are least afraid of the products. They’re led by their friends and the media, and they are led by price. This means they don’t tend to come to medical practitioners because the price perhaps is not as favourable. We’ve got to draw attention to the fact it is a medical treatment, not a beauty salon treatment. They need to know the right questions to ask and how to find the right practitioner, and I think this education needs to come from the media.” — Sharon Bennett, Chair of BACN

 “Having a detailed consultation is key to fully understand the patient motivations to why they want treatment in the first place. Following the consultation, we reinforce a two-week cooling off period for patients to go away and reflect the consultation they’ve had with their practitioner.” —  Sherina Balaratnam, Allergan Faculty and Medical Director, S-Thetics

 Dedicated to educating and empowering consumers, this year Allergan launched Beauty Decoded, a campaign and live event series highlighting the importance of simplifying the consultation process, to enable consumers to choose the right product and the right practitioner for them.