How video calls have re-invented aesthetic consultations
At the start of the year, video calling was something most of us did occasionally to catch up with a loved one we hadn’t seen in a while or when an in-person work meeting wasn’t possible.
Fast forward three months and Zoom, Skype and Microsoft Teams had become household names. It comes as no surprise that lockdown in the UK had detrimental effects on the population, but it was perhaps slightly less expected that the period of isolation would see requests for aesthetic treatments skyrocket, driven by the way people are forced to scrutinise their appearances while on video calls. While a boom in treatment demand is of course a positive thing for practitioners who lost out on revenue while clinics were closed, it’s important to understand the psychological standpoint of patients requesting treatment at this time.
“Constantly seeing your face ‘live’ on screen isn’t something the average person is used to,” says Dr Saleena Zimri, co-founder of Skin Doctor Clinics. “You start to analyse the way you talk, pull facial expressions and look in general. We are far more comfortable with looking at ourselves as non-animated, still images, and many now use filters to help hide flaws or improve themselves. There’s no such thing on video calls though, so you start to notice every line, wrinkle, spot or saggy bit.” Being confronted with your own face all the time can easily lead to this loss of self-confidence, not helped by the fact that no one could access treatments to address the flaws they began to notice while the nation was indoors.
New perspective
“Whereas before their concerns were mostly related to the resting face, clients are now much more aware of their dynamic facial aesthetics as they see more of their facial expressions and movements during video calls,” says Dr Mahsa Saleki, founder of SAS Aethetics. Interestingly, she has seen a rise in requests for dermal filler dissolving owing to the way fillers affect their facial expressions: “A lot of clients are recognising the impact of having too much dermal filler in their face when they make expressions and are opting to have them dissolved from areas such as the under eye and upper cheeks, as these areas are prone to being overfilled and creating an unnatural bulge during facial movements, especially when smiling,” she explains.
“During lockdown we sold large quantities of skin care focused on acne and hyperpigmentation,” says Dr Zimri, attributing this to these conditions being visible and hard to cover. Post-lockdown though, she says the clinics – in Leeds, London, York and Manchester – have seen a “huge rise” in the number of both men and women enquiring about treatments to improve the chin and neck region. “Submental liposuction and neck or jowl skin-tightening treatment requests have soared,” she says. “This is clearly to do with the unflattering angles created by forward-facing cameras during video calls, causing people to notice the “double chin” more, together with the possibility of people having gained a few extra pounds during lockdown.” Dr Zimri adds that under-eye circles because of volume loss are the second most-requested area for treatment, which can be highlighted by poor lighting on camera. Tear-trough fillers are a common treatment option for this.
Dr Saleki agrees that lower face treatments, particularly of the jowl, chin and neck, have increased in popularity. “This may be related to the presentation of the face on video calls, as most people make their calls with their necks more flexed than normal, bringing the lower face into greater focus than in normal conversation,” she says. “This change in posture also creates more folds under the chin and in the neck area, which in turn has resulted in an increased awareness of the ageing process in these areas.”
Best face forward
With all this extra focus on the face it’s likely that we’ll continue to see face treatments reign supreme over the body for a while, especially given that many people will now have limited budgets for the time being: “The face will take priority if having to choose,” predicts Dr Zimri. Dr Mahsa believes it’s too soon to be certain of the long-term effects of lockdown on treatment choices in terms of the split between face and body. However, she says that video calls putting the focus on the face coupled with people having more time to exercise means that facial aesthetics are becoming more popular than even before. “Clients have more time to opt for exercise-based alternatives to body contouring and weight loss. Facial aesthetics however are becoming more popular than before as the focus of most face-to-face social and work interactions remain on video streaming platforms,” she says.
Although this increase in treatment demand will be welcome news for aesthetic clinics and practitioners, it’s important to bear in mind that many patients will be presenting with recent insecurities and may not have taken the time to weigh up their options or think about if they really want treatment at all. “As medical practitioners we all have a duty to consider ethical issues regardless of the time, but even more so now as some people may have developed recent insecurities,” says Dr Zimri, adding: “We need to be asking the right questions and considering the psychology of the person seeking treatment in order to provide a treatment safely and ethically.”
She recommends using BDD assessment tools in consultation and referring patients to psychotherapy if needed. “Some clients may have had some concerns prior to the upsurge in video calls and have chosen to seek treatments as a result of their increased awareness, while others may have only developed certain concerns related to the angles or dynamics of the calls they’re making,” says Dr Mahsa. “These are very different in their nature of presentation and need to be treated accordingly.”
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Post-pandemic
Many practitioners have decided to continue offering video consultations even now that clinics are open again [though “close-contact” services were still not permitted by the Government at the time of writing], because it takes less time and minimises the number of people in clinic while social-distancing rules have to be observed. However, patient privacy and safety also need to be considered. “Video calls are a very useful service for patients and practitioners alike, especially for my patients who often need to travel far and wide to attend clinic,” says Dr Zimri. “However, images need to be sent over a secure network and ideally, password protected. I would advise practitioners to have a consent form for the use and storage of images.”
Dr Zimri only offers video consultations for the face because of the extra concerns around showing the body on camera. “Personally, I don’t offer video consultations for body work due to the sensitivity and nature of this. In normal practice if someone needed to take their clothes off for body assessments then really this is usually done with a chaperone in the room. This is something that would have to be considered during a video call and also logged during note taking,” she says.
Make video work for you
If you’re thinking about continuing to offer virtual consults when your clinic doors are open again, consider how to make it work in the best possible way for your business before jumping straight in by simply speaking to clients over Zoom.
“Post-covid-19, clinic and physical treatment time is a luxury,” says Nick Miedzianowski-Sinclair, founder and managing director of Surface Imaging Solutions, which distributes Canfield Imaging Systems in the UK and Ireland. “A virtual engagement with both prospective and existing patients increases productivity though attending to the admin, initial consultation and so forth, thus reducing and managing loss of the essential physical time between patient and practitioner.”
One of the products in Surfacing Imaging Solutions’ portfolio is ViewMyConsult, a secure patient portal that helps patients and doctors or aesthetic therapists stay connected. It is a particularly good investment for those who use the Visia skin-imaging system in clinic as a way to enhance remote consults. Miedzianowski-Sinclair explains: “Our Visia clients can engage with their existing patients and review where they were before lockdown by screen-sharing the analyses they have in their patient database during a virtual consultation.