Before aesthetics, health: the medical check-up first
As a general practitioner, I always start with your health. A current treatment, a pregnancy or an illness can make a procedure inadvisable. And hair loss, dark circles or a dull complexion sometimes have a medical cause that needs treating first.
Why health comes before the procedure
An injection, a peel or PRP are medical procedures. Their safety depends on technique, but also on your health. That is why the consultation starts with questions, sometimes more than you might expect.
What I check before any treatment:
- Your medical history and allergies, including to a local anaesthetic such as lidocaine.
- Your medicines: an anticoagulant or an antiplatelet drug increases the risk of bruising and bleeding; isotretinoin, an acne treatment taken as tablets, calls for a discussion about the timing of some skin treatments.
- Pregnancy or breastfeeding: the safety of aesthetic injections has not been established, so treatment is postponed.
- An autoimmune disease in an active phase, or a treatment that lowers the immune defences: the decision is made case by case.
- An infection in the area to be treated, including a cold sore: treatment waits until it has healed.
- Poor wound healing, or a tendency to form thick scars (keloids).
Some answers lead to a treatment being postponed, others to it being adapted. They are recorded in your file and reviewed at every consultation.
When what you see has a medical cause
An aesthetic request sometimes hides a health question. A few examples:
- Hair loss can come from a lack of iron or a thyroid disorder. It can also start a few months after a high fever, childbirth or a strict diet, then stop on its own. Looking for the cause comes before any PRP.
- Paler skin than usual and tiredness can go with anaemia due to a lack of iron. Dry skin, thinning hair and marked tiredness can be signs of an underactive thyroid.
- Pronounced dark circles become more visible with lack of sleep. They can also come from eczema or an allergy that makes you rub your eyes, or from inherited pigmentation. A hollow under the eye is a different situation, examined separately.
In these situations, an aesthetic treatment would not treat the cause. Looking for it first avoids an unnecessary procedure, and sometimes reveals a problem that deserves care.
Working as a team, with your consent
Your general practitioner knows your story: your medical history, your medicines, your latest results. With your consent, and only with your consent, I can talk with them before or after a treatment. You keep the free choice of your doctor.
You do not need to be a patient of Maison Médicale Parc Astrid to consult at the practice. If you are registered there, coordination is simply more direct, always with your consent.
A useful test can be done by your regular doctor: for example, a blood test before scalp PRP. And if another specialist's opinion could help you, we talk it over together.
What it changes for you.
- A procedure is only offered if it is indicated, after the examination.
- Sometimes the right answer is not aesthetic: a check-up, treating a cause, or simply time.
- A treatment can be postponed, for example during pregnancy or an infection.
- Your medicines and your medical history are reviewed at every consultation.
- You decide what is shared with your general practitioner.
Health first. The procedure, only if it makes sense.
Frequently asked questions.
About the check-up before a treatment and the link with your general practitioner.
A question about your health before a treatment? It has its place from the very first consultation.
or call 0492 82 82 62
Sources.
- De Boulle K, Heydenrych I. Patient factors influencing dermal filler complications: prevention, assessment, and treatment. Clinical, Cosmetic and Investigational Dermatology, 2015;8:205-214 (medical history, medicines, infections, autoimmune diseases; educational grant from a manufacturer).
- Heydenrych I et al. The 10-Point Plan 2021: Updated Concepts for Improved Procedural Safety During Facial Filler Treatments. Clinical, Cosmetic and Investigational Dermatology, 2021;14:779-814 (active autoimmune disease, pregnancy and breastfeeding, infections).
- Schlesinger TE, Cohen JL, Ellison S. Purpura and Fillers: A Review of Pre-Procedural, Intra-Procedural, and Post-Procedural Considerations. Journal of Drugs in Dermatology, 2013;12(10):1138-1142 (anticoagulant medicines and bruising).
- U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Dermal Fillers (Soft Tissue Fillers) (pregnancy and breastfeeding, bleeding disorders, infection, keloid scars).
- Spring LK et al. Isotretinoin and timing of procedural interventions: a systematic review with consensus recommendations. JAMA Dermatology, 2017;153(8):802-809.
- American Academy of Dermatology. Do you have hair loss or hair shedding? (shedding after a fever, childbirth or weight loss; difference from hereditary hair loss).
- British Association of Dermatologists. Telogen effluvium, patient information leaflet (course, blood test depending on the situation: thyroid, iron).
- NHS. Iron deficiency anaemia (tiredness, paler skin, hair loss).
- NHS. Underactive thyroid (hypothyroidism): symptoms (tiredness, dry skin, hair loss).
- Sundelin T et al. Cues of Fatigue: Effects of Sleep Deprivation on Facial Appearance. Sleep, 2013;36(9):1355-1360 (lack of sleep, dark circles and pallor).
- Sarkar R et al. Periorbital Hyperpigmentation: A Comprehensive Review. Journal of Clinical and Aesthetic Dermatology, 2016;9(1):49-55 (causes of dark circles).
- Mayo Clinic. Dark circles under eyes: causes (tiredness, eczema, eye rubbing, inherited traits).