Dr Zack Ally

GP Careers in Aesthetic Medicine

A varied and diverse career is important to many GPs. More and more doctors are becoming interested in widening their skill and business base so it is no surprise that aesthetic medicine remains a very popular choice. Dr Zack Ally is CEO and medical director of the Derma Medical, a leading aesthetics course in the UK. He has also recently been nominated for the ACW Entrepreneur of the Year. With so many different types of courses available, it is important to make the right choice. Dr Ally talks to MyLocumManager about the things you need to consider when booking an aesthetics course.

5 factors to consider when booking a Cosmetic Training Course

With great nonsurgical treatment advances and a booming industry, now is a great time to be training in Aesthetic Medicine. But where do you train? While there are many training courses around, they vary considerably in many ways. Here are 5 factors I think you should consider when booking onto a Botox & Dermal Fillers Training Course:

 
1) Course Content
It’s always important to do your research here. Some courses may only cover the bare minimum, leaving many gaps in knowledge. Often these lead onto a ‘pyramid scheme’ of follow-on courses by leaving delegates empty handed unless they book more. Before booking your course, check the curriculum content to see what exactly is covered. Use this to decide and compare to other courses to see if this gives you the all-round approach or just keeps things vague. 

2) Practical Experience & Confidence to get started
I think this is very important! For you to confidently treat your own patients single-handed this is a must. Having attended and worked for several training companies ourselves, this was one of the biggest gaps in Aesthetic training nationwide. Every client is different and expectations vary. No two people have the same anatomy and what suits one client may not suit another. Live practical experience is essential to instil confidence for independent practice and the more you get of this on a course the better the retention of knowledge. No delegate should leave feeling under confident or unsafe to start treating paying clients upon completion of training. Be careful with courses that train you only using plastic dummies – this is not reflective of real-life and misses out on many factors such as consultations, differing client anatomy and managing expectations. Equally, some courses rely on you to bring one model to complete your training before being certified. Often these courses are advertised as ‘the lowest price in the industry’ or ‘far cheaper than other courses’- this tends to be a reflection of their quality.  
 

3) Course Aftercare & Next steps
What you do next is as important as the training course you take. We have found from delegates re-training with us, having trained elsewhere, that many of them didn’t know what to do next. As a result they have become deskilled or given up on a potential future in Aesthetic medicine. It’s well-known that having the skill to perform the procedure is one aspect, but that’s only half the job! Many courses will help with this but fail to cover the next steps after acquiring these new skills. I think it is important to have support after training. For example, at Derma Medical, our clinic experience & partnerships with recruitment agencies helps delegates get indemnity cover, prepare their CV and find work upon completion of training through recognition of our curriculum. For those wanting to set-up their own practice, we have experts who can assist with this. 
 

4) Products & Start-up kits

During your Aesthetic Training, you will be using many products to inject our live models. You will become familiar with which product is used for different areas of the face and develop preferences for certain ones. At most courses you will then have to purchase your own products separately to get started upon completion. At Derma Medical, upon completion of our courses, we will send you away with a start-up kit of products worth in excess of £100 to get started along with the essentials to get up and running yourself. This can ease into transition from course to real-life practice immediately.

 
5) Course Reviews

Like holidays and restaurants, one of the best ways to assess what other people think about a training course is through previous delegate reviews. Reviews explain the good and bad points of a service and help people make decisions about a training course. Some reviews are more reliable than others, and with current technology and social media, Facebook reviews have become a reliable way to assess a service as have services such as LinkedIn and Google Plus.

If you are interested in Aesthetic Training or have any questions, feel free to contact Dr Ally at [email protected].