Topic: How you can help your facial aesthetic patients via virtual consultations

Lisa Moore looks at how she used virtual consultations to keep up patient communications during lockdown.

My background in dentistry. I started out as a dental nurse after A levels, trained as a dental hygienist in 2003, and then branched out in 2010 into facial aesthetics.

Fast forward to today and I run my own successful aesthetics clinic, Lisa Moore Therapy. I also have a training academy for advance skin care treatments, Facial Excellence Training Academy. I am also a trainer for injectable treatments for Botulinum Toxin Club.

I have always had a passion for facial rejuvenation and skincare, but until recently up-selling retail was not a strong point.

Last year I dabbled into creating my own brand skincare to retail to my patients and other clinics, which has been really successful. So much so over lockdown I have extended my range to include more professional in-clinic and home care products.

Lockdown enforced changes

I’ve been asked to write this article about how lockdown has affected the way I serve my patients.

I would say the biggest change is obviously access to patients as we still can’t see them face to face.

So does this mean we cease looking after this loyal patient base?

Definitely not! It’s actually even more important to stay in contact and help serve you patients at this time. Many may be suffering from low self esteem. Some may also be with a partner who has never seen them without their cosmetic interventions.

Offering virtual consultations I’ve found was a great way to keep that vital contact with my patients so they did not feel abandoned. I also found that for many, their immediate needs had also changed.

The simplest way I found to help my patients was via a simple phone call. When we closed, I had patients who needed to be cancelled and others who were due.

I called these patients and put them on a VIP priority rebooking list so they would be offered an appointment as soon as we had a date to safely reopen. The response to this was that they felt valued as a patient. For some, this contact was enough to know they would not be forgotten or left out.

The personal touch

I do have several patients who are in a shielding or vulnerable category too. For these few, I also carried on with catch-up calls so they felt they still had a little something to look forward to.

I’m very aware that we can be a lifeline for offloading emotions during our consultations. Particularly at this time of great uncertainty, it was lovely to be able to give a few minutes of my time engaging with this group. Some had literally lost all sense of normality overnight and most of their interaction with others.

For the rest of my patient base, I wrote regular updates via email through my online booking system. This (alongside social media) is where I offered my existing or any new patients the opportunity to book an online virtual consultation.

Topic Discussed: How you can help your facial aesthetic patients via virtual consultations

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