4 Reasons You Should Never Buy Paid Patient Reviews, And 1 Reason You Should.

You're getting emailed from companies promising to raise your profile in the search engines by pushing hundreds or thousands of positive reviews, Facebook likes and Instagram shares to your sites and profiles, driving inbound patient inquiries and filling your treatment rooms. Don't do it.

Reviews are seen as one of the most valuable decision-making credibility markers that patients use when deciding who they're going to trust with their face. In fact, 85% of your potential patients trust online reviews - if they find them credible - as much as personal recommendations from their friends and family.  There is, however, a caveat to that trust. Consumers will only trust those online reviews as long as they believe they are authentic.

Here are some survey highlights from the latest 2017 survey:

• 97% of consumers read online reviews for local businesses in 2017, with 12% looking for a local business online every day
• 85% of consumers trust online reviews as much as personal recommendations
• Positive reviews make 73% of consumers trust a local business more
• 49% of consumers need at least a four-star rating before they choose to use a business
• Responding to reviews is more important than ever, with 30% naming this as key when judging local businesses
• Consumers read an average of 7 reviews before trusting a business - up from 6 last year

Since the value of reviews is so high, some medical spas and cosmetic docs have taken to trying to buy positive reviews from bot-farms. Not a good idea. 

Here are just a few of the reasons why you shouldn't buy online reviews for your clinic.

1. IT’S AGAINST THE RULES

The biggest reason businesses shouldn’t buy online reviews is it’s against the terms and services of many online review sites. Businesses that ultimately do buy reviews or post fake reviews on behalf of their customers could suffer legal action or face sanctions.

Yelp has been very active in trying to ensure its reviews are authentic. Its Consumer Alerts program was created to make sure its reviews are properly vetted and provide helpful, accurate information to consumers conducting online research. If a business on Yelp is found to be purchasing reviews, their profile will be tagged with a warning to consumers about the dishonest activity.

The same is true for Google and Bing. If they catch you doing this the penalty can be severe and they will bury your search engine rankings - exactly the thing you were trying to improve.

2. IT CREATES DISTRUST

As we mentioned, online reviews are a valuable tool for both patients as well as clinics. Patients are leery of clinics either posting fake positive reviews on their sites or trying to sabotage their competition by posting fake negative reviews on their competitor’s sites. To ensure that trust is earned, your clinic should make every effort to be transparent in their collection of online reviews and run from shady practices. Patients can be merciless in spreading the fact that you're performing underhanded reviews if you're caught, and it's really easy to catch you. 

If your reviews are unerringly positive and weren't actually written by your patients - with shortcomings included - you're going to get hosed.

3. IT’S UNETHICAL

This one should be obvious but we'll outline it anyway. When you buy online reviews, you are lying to your patients and potential patients. Once they suss that our you're in for some through word-of-mouth backlash and deservedly so.

One thing to note here is that it's often your staff that will spill the beans. It only takes one tech or clinician to wink or drop that "those are all fake anyway" and - even if it wasn't the intent - your clinic's reputation will suffer.

4. YOU DON'T LEARN ANYTHING

When you buy online reviews, you're not getting feedback from your real patients. Reviews can help you identify problems that might exist in your business and gives you the tools needed to fix them. Clinics that are focused on the customer and care about the experience being delivered won’t need to buy online reviews or post fake ones because their customers will be motivated to post positive reviews on their own.

If you're thinking about buying fake reviews, don't do it, just punch yourself in the ear instead.

5. FINAL THOUGHTS AND RECOMMENDATION

The title lied.

There isn't any reason that you should buy patient reviews, but you should figure out how to get and use real reviews from our patients. If you're looking to improve both your recommendations and your search engine results, take a look at the Podium Special Offer for Members. It's the best tool you'll find IMHO and it works extremely well if you use it. You'll also save yourself countless hours of headaches and something like $1500 if you take advantage of the Members offer. Do yourself a favor and check it out or ask for a demo.

Can't separate your clinic from every other medspa? Try This Simple Innovation Technique.

If you're not doing anything other than what every other plastic surgeon, dermatologist, and medical spa is doing you're stuck competing on only one thing; price.

And that's a straight shot to the bottom.

There can only be one lowest price in a market and the second-lowest price will always lose. Just ask Kay-Mart and Sears who lost long ago to Walmart. Worse, a patient who comes to you based on price will leave you just as fast for someone who's offering IPL, Botox or cosmetic injectables for less.

To get unstuck and find some area where you can distinguish yourself you'll first need to identify the orthodoxies and assumptions that you're already using. The most common assumptions revolve around what others are doing and especially the "we've always done it that way" lazy way of thinking.

Here's a way to tackle this. Start by actually writing down the assumptions that you have that - if they are true - would prevent you from achieving your goals. Your clinic is filled with assumptions: patients won't pay for ___, my staff can't sell, they're not motivated, I'm not good at business, everyone is doing it better than I am, I have to work 60 hours a week... you're looking to root out orthodoxies by identifying existing assumptions and overturning them to illuminate blind spots or limiting beliefs to look at your problem in a new way. By articulating these assumptions you can then attempt to test them - which is key - in order to make better decisions that actually improve  your business and lifestyle. Y

Example: Alan Robinson (co-author of Corporate Creativity) writes in his book how KC Fine Furniture trained their delivery drivers in basic interior decoration so that when they deliver furniture to the customer, they help arrange the room, and accessorize. As a result, their rejection rate dropped from 10% (the industry standard) to 1%. That simple change decreased their returns by an order of magnitude. Nice.

Assumption Reversal

Here's an example based on a process from the book Orchestrating Collaboration At Work.

Procedure

1. List all the assumptions you have about a particular topic, even the most obvious ones. Remember, not all assumptions are wrong. You just want to be explicit about them because they may hold the key to achieving a breakthrough idea. (Aim for 10-20 assumptions
2. Write down the opposite or a modification of each assumption.
3. Use each assumption as a trigger for new ideas, write each idea on a Post-it® Note, and place them on flip-chart paper for evaluation.

An example: Assume you are a dermatologist with a new medical spa and want to attract new patients. You might list the following assumptions:

• My existing patients are going to competitors who are charging less for filler injections.
• I should lower my filler injection prices to compete.
• I will make up the loss on other treatments.

Next, reverse these assumptions as shown in the following examples:

• My existing patients are not going to competitors who are charging less for filler injections.
• I should not lower my filler injection prices to compete.
• I will not make up the loss on other treatments.

Finally, use these reversals to suggest ideas:

• Emphasize that that you're not the "Walmart" of filler injections.
• Stress the high cost of my treatments and "you get what you pay for".
• Give patients who recruit their friends an "insider friends and family" deal.

Source 101 Activities for Teaching Creativity and Problem Solving. (VanGundy 2005)

What assumptions do you need to question?

You're always going to see competitors as the person just down the road, but the truth is that you're competing with much more than that. The path to success is paved with broken assumptions and you need to question - and test - all of yours. If you're relying on the wrong assumptions about your market, your patient population and your business, you're driving with the breaks on at best.

Cosmetic Consultations: Patient and Physician Perspectives on Scar Appearance

There are always differences in how providers and patients see both outcomes and - when there's surgery involved - normal byproducts of the treatment like scaring. Yep, patients see scarring different than you do as a surgeon.

You're already explaining scaring and expected results, but patients commonly discount what they see as secondary effects to the primary benefits. So while the new results are something that patients quickly adapt to as the 'new normal', but the scars - even if they're minimal - stay. If they're visible they can detract from the primary benefits over time.

A new article raises patient and physician perception of how patients and physicians disagree over the appearance of scars and it could cause some differences. What causes the disagreement over the evaluation of scars? The researchers looked for studies where the Patient and Observer Scar Assessment Scale (POSAS) was present, and from there, researchers found most studies had expressed indifference towards the scars. Based on their findings, the common reason for disagreement towards a scar when patients have a favorable rating towards a scar, while physicians did not detect a difference on the scar.

Findings:

• Only 28% of the studies had disagreements toward scar appearance
• Sixty seven percent of the patients preferred a “given surgical closure method” (Zhang et al., 2018 p. E8) than what was performed.

Additionally, there is a psychosocial effect in the appearance of scars and in the quality of life of patient afflicted with surgical scars, as Zhang et al. also briefly discussed. Many patients are unhappy with the scar that results from their surgery. Dissatisfaction and depression had been reported on patients who had facial trauma (Negenborn, 2017). It is also alarming to learn how those with facial scarring would prefer to die than live with the scar on their face (Zhang et al., 2018).

The researchers recommend that a pre-operative discussion is necessary to set expectations, and that an improved assessment scale would help in identifying and rating scars better.

Several studies have investigated in the prevention of emerging scars and eventually treating them as well. 

According to Monstrey et al., (2014), silicone sheets or gels are the most effective non-invasive remedy to treat scars post-surgery. Additionally, some physicians would recommend massaging the scar to treat it. Other known treatment options for scar treatments are fat grafting-- which proved effective for several patients (Negenborn et al., 2017; Riyal et al., 2017), laser treatments (Alberti et al., 2017; Perez and Rohrich, 2017), and even botulinum toxin (Ziade et al., 2014).

So what to do?

Make sure that you're up front about expectations post treatment, but also walk through a treatment plan to address or treat side effects like scarring long term. (Especially if the patient is prone to keloid scarring) Patients can be expected to follow very specific pathways on how they view their results and you can go a long way in elevating their perceived outcomes if you spend just a little time up front.

3 Local Marketing Hacks For Cosmetic Medical Practices To Leapfrog The Competition

Turning your local reputation into sales results is a complicated effort that every medical spa, laser clinic, plastic surgeon and dermatologist is continually trying to solve.

Many of the traditional ways no longer work. Yellow pages are dead. Newspapers have fewer readers. Tired 'discount local flyers' are less effective. Everything is turning to the mobile web. According to Pew Research, 72% of US adults use a smart phone, and the percentage of your patients are going to be higher than that. And they're using those little computers in their hand to research and find businesses on-demand - "best local lunch restaurants", "great roofing company near me", or "lowest Botox treatments near me".

Google refers to these times when people are asking for on-demand information related to purchases as "micro-moments" and they are quickly becoming the norm of many consumers. If you're not optimizing your online presence to take advantage of these moments and get yourself in front of potential patients you're missing all of those sales since you're not even in the game.

With the current tools available and the way people interact with them you should no longer be taking a spray-and-pray approach, trying to get in front of everyone. Instead, look at your metrics and see exactly where your sweet-spot is by age, types of treatments, and margins. Then examine they're buying patterns. It's probable that before you're selling the most expensive and profitable treatments that patients are exhibiting certain buying 'tendencies' that you can address. Uncover what those pathways are and then market those entry treatments to that narrow market segment. For example you may see that your most expensive laser treatments are sold to patients aged 40-45 who first came in initially for Restylane or Juvederm. Rather than market the laser first, you should really be targeting them with low cost lip augmentation or fillers.

What are marketing "Micro Moments"?

A post on Think With Google highlights some key opportunities for capturing customer mindshare during micro-moments, including:

• Identify the top mobile searches in your area. As mentioned previously, mobile device usage is on the rise. More and more consumers are conducting searches on the go and those searches result in increased foot traffic and increased sales. In fact, 50 percent of mobile searches result in an in-store visit within 24 hours with 18 percent of those visits ending in a sale within a day. Knowing what those top mobile searches are can help ensure that your business is the one capturing those customers.
• Know the frequently asked questions related to your business. If you know what consumers are asking about your business you can create content tailored specifically to answer those questions. For example, if you were a dentist you might want to optimize for questions like “how often should I floss?” or “do I need braces?” Helping to educate your community about issues important to them can help you build trust.
• Know how customers find your business. Finally, it’s important to find out how customers are getting to your business. Map your customer journey and identify specific moments where customers might have questions. Doing so can help inform your local marketing strategy to ensure your messaging helps push them from consideration to purchase.

Now that you have a better understanding of how micro-moments affect your business, let’s touch on how you can use these moments to get new patients in your front door.

1. Hyper-Targeting

Look for opportunities to personalize your message when you're putting yourself in front of someone. It's now easy to collect mountains of information about customers and potential customers. You can use that info to personalize calls-to-action to make them more appealing. According to HubSpot, personalized CTAs converted 42 percent better than CTAs that aren’t personalized. The personalization need not be as targeted as someone's first and last name.... no. Social media platforms allow you to segment audience quite well, so you can address a message to 30-35 year old women to 'Soccer Mom', or 'Empty Nester" for those 50-55. Just use something clever that your target identifies will immediately.

2. Optimize Directories

One way to ensure that your business is there when your customers need you the most is optimizing your directories for local SEO. Doing so will give your business a better chance to show up in Google’s Map Pack and near the top of local search engine results pages. There are a number of simple things businesses can do to optimize for local search, but for whatever reason, they neglect to do so. They include:

1. Claiming all relevant business directories
2. Consistent contact info across all listings and on your site
3. Upload high-res photos to increase attractiveness of your listing
4. Use your blog to drive links back to your site
5. Collect and manage online reviews

3. Build Out Extensive Online Patient Reviews

Online reviews are search engine gold. They build your search rankings, add to your credibility, and are trusted much more than what you say about yourself. A vast majority of consumers trust online reviews as much as personal recommendations from family and friends. Finally, they can help your business get chosen because online reviews have a strong influence on purchase decisions.

If online reviews are so valuable, why do many clinics ignore them? If you don’t have the right processes or tools in place, collecting online reviews can be difficult. In the past, the process was long and cumbersome, so many customers didn’t follow through with leaving a review even though they were willing to do so.

The key for a successful online review program is to make it as easy as possible. You can do this by focusing on which review sites customers already use and then delivering invites via your customers’ preferred communications channel. Doing those two things should result in a significant uptick in your invitation conversions.

Take a look at the Podium offer for Medical Spa MD Members to see how this should be working for your clinic. 

Note: There are a number of other competitor systems other than Podium that you might want to review, but Podium is the only one that is currently a Medical Spa MD Select Partner.

New Research Areas Around Minimizing Scars For Cosmetic Surgeries?

New technologies are promising to be able to reduce the most visible after-effects of surgical cosmetic procedures, scarring.

The ability to truly reduce or eliminate scarring after surgery would be a godsend for surgical procedures where scars are visible. The scars are always a negative for the patient and they can become a focus that lessens the results that the surgery actually delivered. The current crop of lotions and potions have some effect, but some form of aggressive wound healing that minimized or eliminated scars would be an optimal outcome for any procedure.

In the article by published last year in the Science magazine, a research team found that they were able to reprogram fat from myofibroblasts by signaling it with the Bone Morphogenic Protein (BMP), which promote growth. In their study, they were able to find a way in regenerating fat from myofibroblasts in adults. The researchers observed that growth of hair follicles was indicative of adipocyte regeneration, which is what most of their findings resulted.  They noticed that adipocytes grew around the area where hair follicles appeared. 

If it were easy to execute, it could definitely change how aesthetic surgeons can treat scarring in patients.

There is an abundance of research on wound healing in the plastic surgery field. Possibly getting some insight from Plikus et al.’s research, aesthetic physicians and surgeons can be guided into finding a way to signal the BMP receptor, they can benefit greatly in using the approach so they could minimize the risk of acquiring a scar after the surgery and turn it into fat instead. In this manner, the adipocytes might be easier to treat as compared to the scars.

Plastic surgeons employ different techniques to minimize the scarring on the areas in which the incision was made. Silicone sheeting is one of the most popular techniques in minimizing scarring in the area. Another technique is to use corticosteroids (Janis and Harrison, 2014).

There have been many cases that examined treating wounds through methods such as laser resurfacing and injections. These two alternatives do help in accelerating wound healing, with botulinum toxins even enhancing the appearance of scars. Dermal fillers also have been seen to have regenerative properties, which could help in the process of healing.

As of the moment, the research team responsible for converting myofibroblasts to fat cells have yet to test their findings out on humans, but they were able to relate it to what they saw on the mice. It would definitely be groundbreaking especially in the field of aesthetic medicine. For now, it is up to the aesthetic physician to educate the patient how to treat their scars.

References:

• https://insights.ovid.com/pubmed?pmid=24469191
• http://science.sciencemag.org/content/355/6326/748.long

Vibration Anesthesia + Insulin Syringes: Does it make a difference?

Having some yahoo stick needles in your lips hurts. We try to mitigate that using everything from topical anesthetics (the most common), ice, and even nerve blocks, but should we be using vibration anesthesia and/or insulin syringes?

Vibration Anesthesia has been explored since 2004, but it hasn't reached mainstream adoption.

The study also applied topical anesthetic cream to lessen the incidence of pain as well.

Findings:

• 25 patients underwent the procedure
• 92% of patients were comfortable with vibration anesthesia
• The 8% of unsatisfied patients felt more pain and anxiety from the vibrations

Previous studies are also on the positive side of vibration anesthesia.

In conclusion, vibration anesthesia is deemed effective from some other studies. Smith et al. (2004) conducted one of the earlier studies of vibration anesthesia with regard to dermal fillers. The researchers recommended the use of vibration anesthesia for several procedures to help alleviate pain, but it is also suggested to use other methods in producing less pain to the patient.

Another study also explored vibration anesthesia, Mally et al. (2014) showed the efficacy of vibration anesthesia, with around 95% of their participants preferring vibration anesthesia.

What anesthesia works in your practice and for your patients?

In another article, an insulin syringe was used to inject dermal filler on the lips. More and more studies emerge in terms of injection techniques. What about what the needles used for injecting dermal fillers, do they matter as well? 

It is best to consider the consistency of the filler (Urdiales-Gálvez et al., 2017) before going through what needle or cannula to use. Many physicians made the switch from needles to cannulas, simply because of its ability to reduce pain and cause less discomfort to the patient. There is collagen stimulation when a cannula is administered (Brackenbury, 2015). On the other hand, needles are more precise, and a few injection sites would suffice. Bruising is the most common complaint when using needles.
 
Both modes have their pros and cons, but eventually the physician will need to discern, which is much better for dermal fillers.

In one journal article, the researchers found that an insulin syringe is also an effective way to deliver dermal filler injections. Kechichian et al. (2017) used an insulin syringe for lip augmentation. It is a novel method, but the idea is to give the patient more comfort as the injection is administered. Their findings leaned towards the preference of using insulin syringe due to its fine needle.

In the end, it all boils down to the administering of the injection and the comfort of the patient, and the experience of the provider.

Would patches really replace injectables and laser or light based devices?

Microneedle patches seem to have beneficial implications based on the current studies presented by researchers. It could then give another alternative for patients, for those who would need short term solutions or quick fixes maybe. Since the patches were made for the studies, it may be too early to say if it would be produced for the public. 

A few months ago, a microneedling patch to reduce fat was tested on mice, having good effects after the application of patches. In another study, a patch was also developed to brighten the skin, additionally there was another study which examined the use of hyaluronic acid on the microneedle patch. In this new study, a microneedle patch was used to reduce the appearance of wrinkles.

The question then is, would patches be the future of cosmetic medicine?

The latest study in microneedle patches was conducted by Hong and colleagues. The researchers divided the 84 participants into groups of 3, group 1 had the patch applied solely, group 2 had the wrinkle cream and patch, while group 3 had the wrinkle cream only.

Findings:

• The researchers examined skin conditions before patch application, and 4, 8, and 12 weeks after application, with group 2 having improvement by 8 weeks, whereas groups 1 and 3 had eventual improve by the 12th week.
• There were no adverse effects reported in the study.
• Microneedle patch coupled with wrinkled cream was more effective as standalone patch or cream.

Would these patches have better efficacy than the current treatment options?

Based on the studies presented by the researchers, it would be good to examine the long term effects of using the patch. In the current studies about microneedling patches, there are no signs of adverse effects or symptoms on the subjects. It may be difficult to say regarding the use of patches as the literature is scant regarding it as these are nascent in the field. It does have its benefits, but a long term solution and efficacy are of utmost importance regarding treatments. So far, patches do offer short term solutions according to the studies.

Many things remain unclear regarding the use of patches, such as the long-term efficacy rate, number of treatments done to alleviate wrinkles or brighten skin, but the future of cosmetic medicine holds many possibilities, and patches could help advance the field for many providers and patients to come, considering it holds promise in the field to understand medical aesthetic in microneedling.

Neuromodulators Introduced in 2017

Neuromodulators or botulinum toxins continue to gain popularity considering its effects on patients. Botox remains one of the most trusted brands in the market, and it does not seem to slow down along with the other two brands, Xeomin and Dysport. Of course, not everyone approves of having the botulinum toxins injected on them because of the effects that it has brought.

Revance Aesthetics is currently testing its RT002, and has had studies published regarding the efficacy of their neuromodulator, meanwhile EB-001 is fairly new but according to the company, their botulinum toxin seems to take effect much quicker than the current ones in the market. In that light, will the big neuromodulators brands be replaced by those still in testing phase?

In a previous article we published, we also wrote about Nabota, which has already been in use by some countries. Revance’s RT002 and Bonti’s EB-001 are currently undergoing trials, but both show potential.

According to Bonti, around 32% of patients show interest in having EB-001 injected on them. In a press release, the company mentioned they have conducted a clinical study, and it supports their claims about the product’s safety and efficacy. The product aims to be an introductory neuromodulator for those who have not tried and for time sensitive events.

As of December 2017, RT002 has reached Phase 3, which is showing better results than Botox. According to press releases, RT002 will have a six month duration period. If approved by the FDA, it’s the only neuromodulator that could ever receive that approval. Like the other neuromodulators, it has adverse effects like ptosis and headaches. Phase 3 will end its testing by February 2018.

These new brands will definitely shake the aesthetic market, since providers will have different options to choose. However, would these brands be able to replace the current ones?

These products will continue to compete regarding which one botulinum toxin would be enough to treat glabellar lines and crow’s feet, it is still unknown which among these treat these concern areas better. It is highly unlikely that the current three neuromodulators will be replaced, but possibly their market might change as there are other patients. Currently, patients can enjoy the present neuromodulators provided in your medical spa or practice.

Improving Your Systems Will Increase Your Clinic's Revenue?

Yes, improving your operations will increase the total revenue of your medical practice.

One of the best ways you can do is make it more efficient. Efficiency is key in any business, so your medical spa should make sure to be it for your patients and to get good reviews. Make your medical spa or aesthetic practice more efficient with software, staff training, and an operations and management overhaul for 2018. 

Software

There are different software applications you can use for your medical spa, which could make any procedures or processes faster and more efficiently. Which software applications would you need for your medical spa?

A practice management software should cover all scheduling and EHR. It should be something that will keep your records secure, and many experts suggest you should have an all-in-one type of EMR software; there are some EMR software that also includes marketing, which you should consider as well.

A cloud computing service would definitely help you store all the files you will need to protect, as an unprotected computer is vulnerable to viruses and hacking. While some EMRs have a cloud software, it would be better to have a backup from your EMR as well. You can use your Google Drive and even sign up for Dropbox.

A reputation management software seems necessary considering its impact on companies; some medical practices are even purchasing a software that would definitely help them. If you are looking for one you can check out Podium where that application would help attract more patients and get you more reviews.

Training

There are different training programs available for non-medical staff. HIPAA and customer service are the two most important things you should consider when it comes to staff training. 

You must have your staff trained with HIPAA periodically. Aside from HIPAA, find them training with marketing or management. If staff is trained with marketing, they could help with selling your products and services. When it comes to staff training, you will need to train them with customer service as well, most especially considering you are dealing with patients almost daily.

Customer service play a huge impact on reviews as well, and if in some reviews some patients have noted your bedside manner, you may need to improve on it as well.

Management

Managing staff and operations could be a lot of work. To manage your medical spa staff and your operations, you will have to identify factors that are currently causing your productivity. Learn to motivate your staff, as part of your management efforts. 

As the physician and their leader, you will need to juggle these two roles well. Always communicate with them and make sure you engage with your employees regularly. You need to find strategies to retain your employees and monitor their performance often as you can.

How 2017 Data Will Help Your Medical Spa 2018

Reviews will remain a paramount factor in Google rankings, and that holds true thanks to a study conducted by different SEO websites, Moz and Local SEO Guide. It should remain as your priority in gaining a new audience, since reputation management is also important for any business, and Google My Business is one of the methods that will help put you on the map. Your medical spa will greatly benefit from reviews, if you and your staff know how to utilize reviews well for ranking and visibility.

Google My Business

Google My Business (GMB) holds a huge weight in the ranking of you medical spa. Original, authentic, and legitimate content, such as reviews could help raise your ranking better and would give you better visibility. Google is the most used search engine, and while you have many competitors, it still is your best chance of being discovered by potential patients.

What if you do not have a Google My Business

In ‘claiming’ your GMB, you need to remember these things, one you must update all the relevant information regarding your medical spa or aesthetic practice. These include: times and days open, a link to your website and your appointment page, the exact location of your medical spa or practice based on Google maps, and photos.

Reputation management should be a necessity for all medical practices if physicians aim to be searchable and seen by prospective patients in their area. It will take time to rank in Google, especially in the first year. This is why alongside a reputation management strategy, you need a consistent SEO strategy for your medical spa or aesthetic practice, to ensure that you will remain on Google’s rankings.

It is much better to rank in Google organically, because apparently according to experts choosing to go for paid will not help as much. This is why you will need to ask for reviews from patients regularly. You can give them a piece of paper or card, you may email them (making sure that no PHI is in the email), or you may send them a text.

What if it’s a multi-practice or a part of it?

If you are in or part of a multi-practice, create pages for all locations. Make sure it’s not duplicate content, as such, indicate the different locations for other pages. For example, Aesthetic Practice New York, Aesthetic Practice Los Angeles. Make sure to have complete information across all locations.

Should I have a personal Google My Business page?

What you are referring to is a Google+. Your medical spa or aesthetic practice could have your own Google+ also, but your individual Google+ should only be meant for social media. You will need the Location Page for your Google My Business, so that it would help you be recognized when patients search your area. A Brand Page of a Google My Business acts more as a page for patients to follow and like posts for.

It is important to discover the importance of having a Google My Business. In this sense, you will be more known by patients. As part of your Local SEO strategy, be listed. Experts recommend you start ranking or focusing locally, so it could be easier for you to be recognized by new patients. Always have a consistent strategy all throughout.

Physician Lifestyle Design

Guest post by Greg Bledsoe MD, MPH

I've posted a couple of articles about taking responsibility for yourself and "building your own ship" , and we've also gone through a few common reasons why physicians aren't the best at career modification.

In this post, I'd like to spend a little time introducing you to the idea of "lifestyle design," something that has become a bit of a buzz-phrase in the business world but as far as I can tell hasn't penetrated the world of medicine just yet (for a lot of reasons).

I'll begin with a personal story...

When I jumped off the academic track in 2006, I wasn't exactly sure what I wanted to do as a career but I knew I wanted something unique.  My idea was to design a career that was flexible, fun, adventurous, and meaningful, all the while paying my bills and being a responsible spouse and parent.  Simple, huh?

I spent months thinking about how to do this as a physician.  I searched websites and blogs.  I spoke with mentors and colleagues.  I read the literature, all to no avail.  There seemed to be no conversation about a career like this in medicine.  I mean, there were a few articles about volunteer opportunities or non-traditional careers, but nothing really like what I was trying to create.  

What I found, though, was that while the medical community was silent about how to develop a very non-traditional and interesting career, the business world had already awakened to the idea.  Within the world of business, the idea of becoming a "free agent" and overhauling your career through "lifestyle design" was beginning to pick up steam. 

Around this time I picked up a copy of the book Free Agent Nation by Daniel Pink.  I'm not sure how I found this book, but it became a sort of manifesto for me.  In this book, Dan explains how more and more individuals were escaping their cubicles to become independent free-lancers and living their lives with increasing flexibility and empowerment.  It was a great read and it hit me at a very important time.  Through this book I realized that I was not alone in my desire for more autonomy, and that a lot of workers who had already yanked themselves off the grid were thriving.  I was hooked.

The second book I read was a book that has become a bit of a cult classic already, Timothy Ferriss' text, The 4-Hour Workweek .  This book is a basic introduction to how Tim built a stream of residual income and then used his extra time and money to explore his interests and live a more interesting life.  It was Tim's book that introduced me to the term "lifestyle design," and while the phrase might seem a bit hokey, it's a very powerful concept.  Basically, what Tim discusses in his book is the idea that it is possible to live an incredible life if you prioritize correctly, live frugally, and develop your entrepreneurial side.  Some have criticized the book recently, explaining that no productive person-- not even Tim Ferriss himself-- really only works four hours a week-- but I would argue that that's not really the point.  The catchy title sells books, but it's the mindset Tim describes that is the reason why the book is an important introduction for individuals who feel helplessly caught in a hamster wheel at work.  Tim's point is that you can-- through ingenuity and hard work-- leap off the hamster wheel and into something much better.

So how does all this apply to physicians?

Well, when you have a career discussion with most physicians, it often boils down to whether or not that individual wants to continue practicing clinical medicine or go into a nonclinical job.  There's nothing wrong with either, mind you, and I have friends who have great careers in each; however, for me and for many other physicians, I suspect, this approach is just too simplistic.

The fact is, I like clinical medicine.  I've spent a of of time getting good at what I do and I'd like to continue to be able to help people by providing good clinical care to patients who need it.  I also like many aspects of the nonclinical opportunities available to physicians-- things like consulting, writing, medical device development, and many other niches really appeal to me.

My main question is not whether I want to practice clinical medicine or jump into a nonclinical career, it's how do I design my life to be able to practice medicine, participate in the nonclinical activities I enjoy, and still have the flexibility to pursue life outside of medicine?  Discussions about clinical versus nonclinical are at their core too reductionistic for most modern physicians.  What most modern physicians really need to be having are overarching discussions about how to design a lifestyle that incorporates the multiple facets of their career interests and also does not overlook the ultimate (and most likely unspoken) goals they have for their lives. This is a much deeper conversation, but one that is desperately needed today in this time of significant upheaval in our healthcare system.

So where do you begin if you're a physician and you are interested in exploring this idea of "lifestyle design?"

Well, don't go to the career advice section of your specialty journal and certainly don't go to the HR person at your hospital or academic institution.  

In my opinion, you should begin by checking out the conversations going on in other fields.  There are some incredible websites built around some really creative and interesting people who are living fascinating lives and teaching others how to do the same.  Check out the following as a starting point:

• The Blog of Tim Ferriss: Experiments in Lifestyle Design
• The Art of Non-Conformity Blog
• Thrilling Heroics with Cody McKibben
• The Blog of Corbett Barr

Once you immerse yourself in this culture you begin to see possibilities that you never would have realized before.  What's more, as a physician there are even more possibilities available to you than for the typical person, if only you'll step out and take a little risk.

Over the last few years this idea of lifestyle design has been a focal point of my thinking when it comes to career moves and ultimate goals.  I've invested a lot of time, cash, and sweat into learning how to build a unique career, and my hope with ExpedMed is that we can use this website as a vehicle to help other physicians, just like you, succeed in designing a lifestyle and career they truly enjoy. 

The Newest In Dermal Fillers

Dermal fillers remain one of the most known methods of non-surgical rejuvenation, due to its popularity and effects, many patients have preferred dermal fillers. However, not everything ends well because of the possible adverse effects of dermal fillers. Thus there have been studies to ensure the safety of administering inejctables.

A couple of studies.

Double Injection Technique

Novel techniques are developed and presented to ensure the delivery and safety of the filler. Injecting requires skill and precision, thus it is crucial to learn safer techniques in injecting dermal fillers especially in the danger zones. One dermatologist mentioned that during a demo, the subject had become blind also.

Intravascular injection is something that all providers avoid due to disastrous side effects it causes on patients, and due to this delivery of injection, there have been cases of blindness and providers must always practice care and precision in administering the injection. 

The technique was double injection, as presented by the researchers, Huang and Lin, which could help prevent intravascular injection. Their method aims to thwart the possibility of intravascular injection, basically there would be an inner and outer needle in performing the procedure. In the event of drawn blood, the inner needle would move the blood out.

The researchers do admit limitations to their method and there could be more research that may be done in order to use this method.

Regeneration is the new Rejuvenation?

Dermal fillers could also demonstrate its efficacy in regeneration. Only two studies have examined dermal filler use for regeneration, it seems likely that in the near future, physicians could use dermal fillers for soft tissue regeneration. There are two studies regarding tissue regeneration and filler or fat injection, which have regenerative properties.

Fallacara et al. (2017) suggest that Urea could be cross-linked with HA considering its properties. According to the researchers, this could be the future of dermal fillers, and that could treat cosmetic issues other than its usual common dermatological concerns (e.g. psoriasis, calluses)

Additionally, there is another alternative to filler for tissue regeneration, which was discussed in detail by Dr. Cohen through Medscape that fat was also helpful in rejuvenating and regenerating  the reason he used fat was it made for a more natural look and that it lasted longer as compared to using fillers. Additionally, it adds more volume.

CaHA with Ascorbic Acid?

The study examined the efficacy of CaHA with Ascorbic acid to treat stretch marks. The researchers tested it on 35 patients, and on areas where stretch marks commonly appear such as: thighs, knees, buttocks, abdomen, and breasts. 

Findings:

• 63% of patients in the study were satisfied with the treatment; while only 1 was unsatisfied.
• Most patients were more satisfied in areas like abdomen, buttocks, and breasts.

Dermal fillers would have more potential uses in the future, and that it could have other uses in the future. For now, dermal fillers remain as one of the most popular treatment for cosmetic concerns, leaning towards rejuvenation.

A list of cosmetic dermal fillers here.

References:

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5426873/
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/315818101_Hyaluronic_Acid_Fillers_in_Soft_Tissue_Regeneration
https://journals.lww.com/prsgo/Fulltext/2017/09000/Calcium_Hydroxylapatite_Combined_with.17.aspx