Skin Disease Education Foundation sent a very interesting newsletter by email. They co-hosted the Cosmetic Dermatology Seminar 2009 this past weekend in Santa Monica, CA. Skin and Allergy News provided real-time coverage on Twitter. Reading the Tweets was fascinating - what a great idea!
A frequent question regarding Pearl and Pearl Fractional for resurfacing is which product is more aggressive? The common misconception is that Pearl Fractional is less aggressive than Pearl. This misconception comes from old technologies like CO2 traditional resurfacing vs. fractional – where the fractional therapy is less aggressive.
Pearl (confluent) is not designed to create deep full coverage resurfacing like old CO2. This is not due to its ability, but rather due to the market desire. There are very few deep full coverage resurfacing procedures performed due to the prolonged downtime and high risk of complications. Pearl (with YSGG) is able to perform a treatment that no other wavelength can accomplish. That is to treat to the D/E junction with a thermally confined pulse to provide full surface improvement and collagen stimulation without weeping, oozing or long downtimes and risk.
Pearl Fractional is designed to be the aggressive tool. Because it treats fractionally, it is possibly to create deep ablation without high risk and downtime. When performing Pearl Fractional procedures, the energy delivered from the laser is significantly more intense than a Pearl laser shot, resulting in ablation in excess of 1mm. Most treatments are performed at 600 to 800µm, which is 1/3 to ½ of the maximum settings on the device. . Density is then selected by the user to determine the degree of coverage – and subsequent intensity desired. Pearl Fractional is actually one of the most powerful and potentially aggressive devices available on the market today. The aggressiveness of Pearl Fractional treatments (depth and coverage percentage) is limited by physician choice, not by the device.
So why use both? Pearl performs a treatment no fractional laser can accomplish. It treats the entire surface of the face to the D/E junction. This improves universal skin tone, texture, quality, pigment, etc. Pearl Fractional is aggressive to treat significant damage with minimal downtime, but does so by being fractional. This can be used to create greater dermal injuries in focal regions for greater stimulation – but it, like all fractional lasers, intentionally does not treat the majority of the skin’s surface.
We recently released a Multimedia News Release on Pearl Fractional and the benefits to this treatment for "Eye-Juvenation" - treating that difficult periorbital area successfully.
Examples of some of the pickup (video and/or news sites and blogs) are shown below:
Good luck with YOUR PR efforts to promote your skin rejuvenation and aesthetic services - PR can be a lot of work but getting PR is always worth the effort.
We used a Multimedia News Release (MNR) for the first time to promote the Pearl Fractional laser for "Eye-Juvenation" -- results and coverage have been impressive.
Rather than just releasing a press release, our MNR included:
Press release
Video footage (interview with Brian Biesman, MD and treatment footage)
When you prepare media documents to promote your services or a new treatment such as Pearl Fractional for skin resurfacing and dramatic skin rejuvenation, gather up other supporting documents, videos and images to expand your story and make it both dynamic and content-rich. Your efforts will pay off in the long-term!
Do you have a diverse patient population with all or most skin types and many different ethnicities?
Are you able to offer aesthetic treatments to all of these patients?
Do they know you have aesthetic products and treatments for THEM?
In other words - are you doing a good job letting your patients know exactly what you can offer them, and which services are safe and effective for their individual needs? Do you use marketing materials that feature models of different age groups? Different ethnicities? Both male and female models if your clientele is both male and female?
Cutera recognizes this need exists. We offer a way to create customized patient brochures to help our customers reach out to their entire practice. Customers visit CuteraPatientTools.com, choose the application, then select a brochure cover model(s) who best suits the patient group they are targeting. They can customize the back panel of the brochure with their practice information as well.
For example, if you want to offer customized laser hair removal patient brochures, you can choose from photos of men and women of all ages, from skin types I -VI. A specific example -- create and print a vein treatment brochure that features a woman of Mediterranean heritage or show an older couple who are contemplating fractional skin resurfacing such as Pearl Fractional.
Think about your patient base, what you can do for them and ensure they know it.
I was thrilled to see Cutera's Pearl laser mentioned on BeautyStyleWatch -- a prominant beauty blog yesterday. Pearl was also mentioned on Tee-Se Bender's daily newsletter - which acts as a news flash. Thank you Te-see! She also mentioned The Kopelson Clinic, a Cutera customer in Beverly Hills. Yay.
When your products or services are mentioned by others in a non-paid advertisement fashion, this is public relations. PR is much more credible than advertising and is the preferred way to create buzz about your company, your products, your services, YOU.
What can you do to re-leverage the mention to get more mileage out of it?
Mention it on your web site (with a link back to original site)
Tweet about it on Twitter (with a shortened hyperlink)
Bookmark a link to the original site on your practice's Facebook page
Email a mention on your newsletter to clients
And this is just a partial list. How do you leverage your PR? Let me know your ideas.
Alright - I know this is not part of "Marketing" but I just read an interesting article by Bryan Durocher on Employee Compensation published last December in Skin, Inc. and thought I would share it with you.
I know a number of Cutera customers struggle over how much they should compensate their employees - for promoting their practice, referring friends/family, closing consults to appointments, performing aesthetic procedures such as laser hair removal, skin rejuvenation, etc. There is no one answer as every practice is different.
Some pay commission on top of salary - others use monthly or quarterly profit sharing. I thought this statement was sobering. "If a business owner is paying more than 50% commission or is offering some type of benefits in conjunction with a commission structure greater than 50% they are losing money."
Cutera offers monthly webinars on a variety of clinical education and practice marketing tips.
Today's webinar is hosted by David A. Engleman, MD FACC who will discuss the latest advances and advanced techniques for treating leg veins with sclerotherapy and using lasers - specifically the Cutera CoolGlide 1064 nm long-pulsed, high powered laser.
Do you find treating leg veins or any kind of laser vascular treatment to be tricky? Please watch this webinar. For your convenience, it will be recorded and available to view on-demand in Cutera webinar archive.
Are you using Twitter to promote your practice? If you are like most practice owners; you aren't quite sure what Twitter is all about.
Tweets, Twitterers, Twouble.......
Twitter is a form of social networking. You set up an account and may post up to 100 short messages within one hour. Each post is limited to 140 characters. You can include links to photos and web pages with the help of applications that shorten the link you include in your post so it uses as few of those 140 characters as possible.
A lot of Twitterers post about things that seem fairly innocuous (I'm having a latte right now) but among all the white noise, you will find nuggets of useful information. Twitter is really about conversation. Little conversations that are in the NOW. Search twitter content. You will find posts that are usually not more than 7 days old; unlike search engines like Google that may show content that was created 10 years ago (still relevant but not "fresh").
How can you leverage Twitter for your practice? Check out how your colleagues are using Twitter. Some are posting about their services, others about interesting PR coverage they are receiving, while others are yet "re-tweeting" medical articles they've seen.
Remember - your tweets can be found through search. Those who follow you and reply to or re-tweet your posts make them available to those who are following them and this spider web of communication is getting a huge amount of buzz now that Oprah has embraced it. So jump in and start tweeting....
You can follow me on Twitter. twitter.com/LMCinSF/ I'll be tweeting about medical news, Cutera events and PR news, news about Cutera customers and any nuggets of marketing that enhance practice marketing success.
Marci A Landsmann is the managing editor at Advanceweb (Advance for Healthy Aging's online site). She recently authored an excellent article on managing an aesthetic practice with useful and hands-on practice pearls.
Marci discusses:
Setting the Tone
Providing a Polished Image
Rewarding Employees
Accountability
Be Creative
I really enjoyed her article. While these tips may seem like common sense, they do work!
Advance for Nurse Practioners has an interesting series of media tip articles. Video marketing is getting big - both on websites and using social media sites like YouTube!
You can create promotional videos, infomercials, patient education, training or testimonial videos. If you can think of it, you can make a video about it.
Joel Schlessinger, MD had an interesting article in Practical Dermatology on the benefits to dermatologists in providing both clinical dermatology services with aesthetic. Offering a balance of both medical and cosmetic is good advice for any practice; i.e. diversification will help you ensure that revenues come from many sources.
The increased terminal hair growth occurred mostly in areas in which fine hair or both fine and coarse hair was present prior to initiation of treatment.
Laser based technology has provided a permanent hair reduction for many people. However, for a very small percentage there can be counterintuitive hair growth.
Increased terminal hair growth has been seen with near infrared and infrared technology.
It is important to be aware of this possibility when providing Laser Hair removal services.
This kind of aesthetic laser system purchase involves asking thorough questions to ensure the decision is good for your practice.
Questions to Ask Before Buying an Aesthetic System from a Third Party
Does the seller have a clean title on the system? Most aesthetic systems are leased. For any system that is less than 3 years old, there may be a sizable payment remaining on the lease. Until the lease is paid in full, the lien holder (usually the lease company) has rights to the system. At a minimum, you should call the manufacturer to check the serial number on the system to verify the title is clear.
How old is the system? What is the pulse count on the handpieces? Are you buying the system sight-unseen? Is the system in good condition?Are the handpieces at the end of their life-cycle for pulse count?
How long will it take to service your system? Each day your system is not operating can cost you thousands of dollars. Without access to parts and with a limited staff, how long will it take for your system to be repaired?
How will the system be calibrated after repair? Many companies use proprietary tools and software for system repairs. Do your patients want to be treated with a system that may not be calibrated properly after repair?
How will you receive certified clinical training on the system? Many insurance companies require training on the device for a malpractice insurance policy to be activated. Will your insurance company honor training not performed by a manufacturer’s representative?
Do you have access to the latest technology? Technology evolves faster today than ever before, and patients have access to the latest information through the internet. Will you have access to the most recent innovations to offer your patients the procedures they are demanding?
The American Society of Plastic Surgery (ASPS) released statistics today, indicating "ethnic cosmetic procedures increased 11 percent in 2008, with more than 3 million performed, while procedures among Caucasians dropped 2 percent. Cosmetic procedures among Hispanics, the largest and fastest growing ethnic group in the U.S., experienced the greatest growth; up 18 percent."
That is great news for any practice offering aesthetic procedures with a diverse patient population.
"We're seeing a rise in Hispanics opting for cosmetic procedures that coincides with the growth we're seeing in the nation's population," said ASPS President John Canady, MD. "Less social stigma, as well as, advances in procedures allow patients to maintain their ethnic look. While the majority of patients continue to be Caucasian, the profile of the typical patient is changing."
Tripti Burt, MD, is shown here treating her hispanic patient with fillers and Cutera's Laser Genesis to improve her skin's tone and texture.
Things to ponder: What are you doing to reach out to your diverse patient base? What aesthetic laser (and other) procedures can you perform safely on these patients? Do they know these options are available to them?
A very important element of the patient consultation and skin care treatment plan are uniform photos of the treatment area. Patients often forget how much hair they had before starting Laser Hair removal. Pictures help to identify changes in pigment. This is important when performing a Limelight facial for pigmented lesions or Laser Hair removal. Pictures really are worth a thousand words.
Having a simple protocol for patient photography is essential. This means taking steps to standardize not only the method of taking representative photographs, but also of storing/cataloging them for efficient retrieval for presentations and patient use.
The key to this is to simplify the process and make the number of photos required for each patient uniform.
GAM VI separates sales of the ten top aesthetic markets into four regions (North America, Europe, Asia, South America) with comprehensive analysis of competitors, market and economic trends in each area. Included are manufacturer sales, number of practitioners, procedure volume and treatment fees for all segments."
For more details on Medical Insight, Inc.'s studies, visit their web site.
Finally some really good news: The American Academy of Cosmetic Surgery conducted and published results from its annual Procedural Survey.
The most remarkable finding is the move toward non-invasive laser treatments. "During the past three years, cosmetic surgeons have seen a significant increase in both males and females electing to have laser resurfacing."
"Demand for cosmetic laser technology procedures seems to be thriving despite the U.S. economic downturn."
The use and delegation of Laser based technology differs from state to state. Treatment providers are required to know the state laws that govern the use of Laser and Light based technology. Some states mandate that the physician be physically present and supervise procedures such as Laser Hair removal and vascular treatments. While other states mandate that the physician can delegate Laser based treatments to staff that have recieved adequate training. The physician is not required to be physically present when the Laser Hair removal or vein treatment is performed.
Any signs of acne should be treated as soon as possible. The longer acne is left to progress without treatment, the higher the possibility of scarring. Acne treatment primarily depends on the type of acne and its severity. Your dermatologist can best prescribe the appropriate treatment for your acne but it pays for you to be knowledgeable about this skin condition. Here are some of the common procedures in treating acne.
Infrared technology of aesthetic laser systems can be used to treat textural issues from acne. However, it is very important to control the breakouts prior to starting any treatment. Laser Genesis is effective to help decrease the redness and improve textural issues of mild acne scars.
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