Medical Spa MD

Allergan's Botox Profits Jump 51%

2010-02-09T04:08:26Z

Allergan's profits bounced up an impressive 51%... Could this signal a medical spa rebound?

Allergan Inc.'s (AGN) fourth-quarter profit jumped 51% from a charge-addled period last year while product sales surged 16% amid continued improvements in markets for cosmetic medical procedures following the recession, the company said Thursday.

The Botox-maker forecast weaker-than-expected earnings in the first quarter, which it pegged to increased spending on advertising and product launches. It also projected full-year earnings mostly below Wall Street's forecast while being cautious about economic recovery and challenges for certain products.

Still, shares of the Irvine, Calif., company, which also makes eye drugs, breast implants and fillers for facial wrinkles, recently traded up 2.3% to $58.09.

Add a Medical Spa MD Badge to your website.

2010-02-07T20:12:43Z

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Mail Order MedSpa Business Opportunity

2010-02-06T21:32:15Z

If the clients won't come to you, then you can go to your clients. At least for product sales, that is. A new trend that many aesthetic practices are adopting is online product sales. It's attractive for many reasons:

It adds an accommodating service to your current client base who may be too busy to stop in and pick up their products. Convenience is the way of life these days!
It introduces your practice to new customers.
It brings in revenue that you may not have been exposed to before.
It's relatively easy to manage and doesn't require much staff time (i.e., low overhead).
It gives you the opportunity to stand out when compared to other competitive practices in your area.
And, it can even raise your SEO ranking!

Concerned about the cost of shipping products? No worries! The U.S. Postal Service now offers cost effective Priority Mail Flat Rate boxes in various sizes. So, if it fits, it ships!

Want to make your product line even more attractive and personalized? Try custom label packaged products like the ones from Concept Labs, CBI Laboratories, or Natural Skin Care to name a few. In fact, there are so many companies providing private label skin care products today that you can be very particular with ingredients and additives. Just perform an online search for "private label skin care" and many companies will come up in your search results.

Some practices offer relaxing CDs for sale, aromatherapy products, sleep masks, robes, and many other comfort items that create a sense of personalization with their clients and prospective clients.

How do you add an online store to your website? Companies such as Go Daddy offers "Quick Shopping Cart®", and there's X-Cart®, to name two. Like many internet-based businesses, there are a ton of them. Just use the search terms "online shopping software" and see what comes up!

What comes up then could be your practice's revenue in an area which probably could use a little boosting!

Zeltiq vs. Zerona

2010-02-04T16:07:31Z

Zerona and Zeltliq booth promise to freeze fat and shed pounds well enough that it would be a slam dunk to add these treatments to your medical spa or laser clinic. But do they work?

Here's some commentary from the NY Times Story

Doctors and patients alike are excited by the prospect of having new technologies that can attack fat without surgery. It is too early, however, for consumers to know how effectively either device works. That hasn’t stopped men and women unhappy with back fat and muffin tops from paying thousands for treatment in recent months...

...Zeltiq Aesthetics, based in Pleasanton, Calif., is a cautious wallflower that aims to get the data behind its device approved by the F.D.A. before it makes too rowdy an entrance to the party. Its slogan is “More Science. Less Fat.”

Meanwhile, Erchonia Medical, based in McKinney, Tex., has aggressively marketed its Zerona laser as “the first non-invasive body contouring procedure to effectively remove excess fat” even though it has yet to receive F.D.A. clearance to promote this use. (In general, the F.D.A. must sanction a medical device for a specific use before a company can market that use. But doctors are free to use devices off label. )

Nonetheless, a brochure for Zerona states patients can collectively “lose up to 9 inches without the pain or down time of surgery.” Nationwide, medical spas, chiropractors, cosmetic surgeons, plastic surgeons and dermatologists now offer Zerona for $1,700 to $3,800 for six sessions. Part of the reason the device has made inroads during these strapped times is that doctors don’t buy it outright, but pay per use.

So how is Zerona supposed to work? The low-level laser causes “fat to seep out of a cell, almost like a balloon being struck by a needle,” said Ryan Maloney, medical director for Erchonia Medical. The fat enters the lymphatic system, and is eventually used as energy, Dr. Maloney said.

Zeltiq uses controlled cooling to target and eliminate fat cells, a process called selective cryolipolysis. Skin isn’t damaged, but subcutaneous fat, which is more sensitive to targeted cold, begins a two-month death march soon after exposure to Zeltiq.

Doctors on the advisory board for Zeltiq Aesthetics have put the word out about it on television news segments. But at this stage, the company itself has been careful not to promote its device directly to consumers since its F.D.A. clearances for, say, pain reduction during dermatologic treatments don’t encompass fat reduction. Gordie Nye, the chief executive, sent an e-mail message declining to be interviewed for this article.

The company has clinical data that has been submitted to the F.D.A. for approval, according to a few doctors who were principal investigators. Data relayed at a meeting of the American Society of Dermatologic Surgery showed a 22 percent reduction of the fat layer as measured by ultrasound.

Erchonia Medical has published the results of its clinical trial in Lasers in Surgery and Medicine. Thirty-five patients in the treatment group lost an average of 3.5 inches total in hips, thighs and their midsection according to the company’s clinical trial. The company has promoted Zerona as “a new body-sculpting procedure designed to remove fat and contour the body without invasive surgery.” But the F.D.A. has not sanctioned marketing this use. It has cleared the Zerona laser for pain reduction 24 hours after breast augmentation or as a way to decrease the pain associated with recovering from liposuction.

In general, Karen Riley, a spokeswoman for the F.D.A., said “it is considered off-label promotion if you are marketing to the public a use that has not been cleared.” Steven Shanks, the president of Erchonia Medical, said, “Since we use the exact same power for liposuction and breast augmentation, we self-certified the device.” He said that in January 2009, the company had applied for a 510K clearance — which is based on the notion that an older device is substantially equivalent to a new one — and had yet to receive it. (Such a delay is atypical, Ms. Riley said, adding, “most 510Ks are cleared within six months.”)

Last month, Dr. Robert B. Seltzer, a dermatologist in Pasadena, Calif., ran an advertisement in The Los Angeles Times for an informational seminar that called Zerona “the holy grail.” In a phone interview, however, he said, “I’m not 100 percent convinced” and planned to return his Zerona if he didn’t continue seeing results in his patients. (So far 5 out of 6 have been pleased.)

After reviewing Erchonia Medical’s clinical study, Dr. Brian M. Kinney, a plastic surgeon in Los Angeles, said, “I can’t prove that it works.” His concerns are that the tape measure method of gauging circumferential changes “isn’t consistently reliable.” What’s more, study participants and the placebo group were assessed only two weeks after their last treatment, not long enough to measure adequately whether results last.

Dr. Kinney doesn’t have a Zerona or a Zeltiq cooling device, though in the case of the latter, he said, “it is well documented that freezing fat tissue aggressively enough can lead to fat necrosis,” or, fat dying, over a few months.

Patient selection for any body contouring procedure is crucial, said Dr. Jeffrey M. Kenkel, vice chairman of plastic surgery at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas. Dr. Kenkel, who recently replicated results of Zerona’s clinical trial in 12 of his patients, doesn’t offer Zerona to obese patients, or to ones who have had surgery in the area they want treated. “It’s critical to be evaluated by a doctor,” he said.

Success is also dependent on diet and exercise, he said. If you’re sedentary and not eating healthy food, he said, then once fat is leaked after Zerona treatments, “your body will just store it again.”

How the body rids itself of fat, and how quickly, after any noninvasive body slimming procedure is unclear, said Dr. Lawrence S. Bass, a plastic surgeon in Manhattan who started using a Zeltiq device last July. That includes, he said, forthcoming devices like UltraShape and LipoSonix, which employ ultrasound waves to single out fat. It’s a “sticking point with the F.D.A. with all these things,” he said. Dr. Bass was not a clinical investigator for Zeltiq, but he said, “I’m convinced both on the science and clinical experience, it’s able to eliminate fat noninvasively.”

Nadine Tosk, a publicist for Zeltiq, explained that the rollout of the device was “very limited right now.” Dr. Jeffrey Dover, a dermatologist in Chestnut Hill, Mass., who advises Zeltiq and participated in its clinical trial, said a few board-certified plastic surgeons and dermatologists were “handpicked” because “we know they do good work.” Restraint is key, he said, because a doctor could apply Zeltiq to “the same spot” in the same day, which isn’t how it’s meant to be used. Hourlong treatments are best spaced out by two months, said Dr. Dover, who charges $700 per spot.

That said, a doctor with a Zeltiq device isn’t hard for patients to find. More than five dozen “Zeltiq specialists” can be found by ZIP code at body-contouring.com, which is a patient guide not sponsored by manufacturers of body-slimming devices. Dr. Jason N. Pozner, a plastic surgeon in Boca Raton, Fla., appears topless in a YouTube.com video that shows his left flank being suctioned and cooled as he reads his Kindle. (His partner, Dr. David J. Goldberg, was an investigator for Zeltiq.)

Ms. Bonvouloir hasn’t given up on Zerona. Recently, she paid $2,100 for six treatments at Parker Day Spa in Parker, Colo. This time, each session is followed by a massage that supposedly speeds the release of fat. “I still have three more sessions,” Ms. Bonvouloir wrote in an e-mail message. “Again, they are convinced I will lose some inches. I’d like to know when!!!”

Not exactly a raging endorsement but that shouldn't come as a surprise. Is anyone we know having success with Zerona treatments? Is Zeltiq or Zerona going to cause trouble for Thermage?

Shine: New Teeth Whitening Services For Medical Spa MD Members

2010-02-03T04:48:00Z

Introducing Shine, teeth whitening services for Medical Spa MD Members.

We're extremely happy to welcome Shine to our growing number of Select Partners who are looking to provide quality products and services for our Members.

Shine's something new. It's a professional teeth whitening service for Doctors, medspas and Clinics that allow any physician to offer custom teeth whitening, the #1 most requested and sought after cosmetic treatment, directly from their practice or medical spa withouth any equipment or long-term commitment. Just order 'teeth whitening kit's' and everything's included that will allow you to add the #1 cosmetic treatment to your services.

Here's how it works:

You order 'Teeth Whitening Kits' from Shine. (Get a special offer here)
Your client makes an 'impression' of their teeth that you ship back to Shine.
Shine's dentist-trained staff makes custom teeth whitening trays and ships them back to you in 48 hours.
Your client picks them up.

That's it. All of the shipping, packages, handling etc is included in the price. Of course you're buying wholesale and your selling retail. You also have the ability to white-label your own teeth whitening pens or use them as promotional items, giveaways, or just sell them retail.

As a Medical Spa MD Member you can call the president of Shine, Vic Conner directly at 801 865-850. (If you're not yet a member you can join here. It's free.)

The smartest next step? Order two trial kits and use them yourself. See how fantastic the service, product, and results are... It's rare that you can offer a product that you can essentially guarantee a result from but this might just be it. After all, the suggested retail price for a Shine custom teeth whitening trays, gel, etc is between $250-$350.

Here's some more about Shine from their press release:

No teeth whitening equipment required

Shine Teeth Whitening Services now offers professional teeth whitening services at wholesale prices to Medical Spa MD Members throughout the US and Canada.

These custom fit teeth whitening trays and professional strength carbamide peroxide gel can bring new profits and an exciting new arm of service to tanning salons, chiropractors, and day spas throughout the U.S. and Canada.

As a Medical Spa MD Select Partner, Shine Teeth Whitening gives every aesthetic practice a way to participate in revenue and profit of the burgeoning $300M teeth whitening industry with no training and no equipment required. Shine is an outsourced lab that provides custom teeth whitening kits and professional strength whitening products. The Shine team is trained by a certified dentist to create custom fit pliable whitening trays, which are the most comfortable and effective means of consistent and lasting teeth whitening. Shine provides these custom fit trays in conjunction with professional strength 22% carbamide peroxide gel for maximum impact. With Shine’s custom fit teeth whitening trays, an amount of gel as small as a match head is enough to provide powerful whitening to the entire front surface of the upper and lower 6-8 teeth in your smile.

The custom trays ensure the gel will stay safely contained in the tray, away from your gums, to prevent sensitivity. Are you a coffee drinker? Colas? Fast foods? No problem! With a custom whitening kit, clients can achieve professional whitening at home while working out, reading or cruising the internet as often as needed—and at a fraction of the cost of an equivalent kit from a dentist’s office--to keep their smile perpetually bright. For practices who provide laser whitening services, pairing that service with a custom kit for home whitening will ensure that your clients’ whitening progress—and their satisfaction with your whitening services—remains as strong as it was on the day the laser threatening occurred in your office, to avoid the typical degradation of their whiter teeth shade over time.

How to Participate

Shine provides dental impression putty and trays in pre-measured kits with easy instructions to help your clients capture a perfect impression. Send the impression to Shine in the pre-addressed mailer and we’ll return your client’s completed kit to your office for pickup within 5-10 days. To help you try Shine’s new service, for a limited time we're making available a special offer of a set of two sample teeth whitening kits, custom trays, manufacture and shipping. When you are ready to provide Shine to your customers, simply order our pre-measured kits as often as needed at our low wholesale price and sell the completed kits (MSRP $230-$300).

Portable Whitening Pens

Shine’s portable whitening pens are one of our most popular products. At $5 (US) and up wholesale, these fun and easy aluminum tubes are easy to private label for your own practice. They deliver professional strength whitening gel through the brush tip of a slim wind up cylinder small enough to fit in a purse or a pocket. These portable tubes sell for $25 and up on popular retail sites like Amazon and Sephora and are great for travel, for touch ups, and are especially popular with young adults and for teens.

Report Shows Teeth Whitening The #1 Most Sought Cosmetic Treatment

2010-02-02T04:46:00Z

For 2010 Americans dream of cosmetic makeovers that tighten abs and leave a brighter smile, rather than those that erase worry lines and lift sagging facial features.

A poll of 2,227 U.S. adults by Harris Interactive on behalf of RealSelf.com found that more than half of all adults (54%) would choose cosmetic work if money wasn’t a concern, and of those who would have work done, the majority (52%) would choose teeth whitening, followed by tummy tuck surgery and liposuction. Not surprisingly, a majority of women (67%), as well as 40% of men said they would also have cosmetic work done.

Few cite Botox as wanted.

In spite of being the most popular cosmetic procedure in the World, just 6% of the survey respondents who would choose cosmetic treatments indicated a desire to get Botox to treat face wrinkles. However the number rises to 15% among women aged 45-54.

Cosmetic Makeover Wishlist Shows Teeth Whitening Most Wanted

If money were not an issue, consumer interest by gender include:

Procedure	% of total	% of women	% of men
Teeth whitening	52	51	55
Tummy tuck	29	39	13
Liposuction	29	34	19
Hair removal	25	31	16
Face lift	14	18	6
Laser skin treatment	13	16	7
Cellulite treatment	12	18	1
Hair replacement	11	5	20
Breast implants	10	15	1
Botox	6	3	8

The survey found the average teeth whiteing cost to be $417.

Marketing Your Medical Spa With Facebook Photo Albums

2010-01-30T04:47:00Z

We've already covered how to launch a Facebook page, what to post, and how to advertise your social media pages. Today we're covering photo albums on Facebook.

Facebook photo albums are a great tool for showing off what you do best. If you've ever used Facebook on the personal side, you've probably noticed how easy it is to flip through a large number of photos. For example, if your friend posts 200 pictures from their trip to Italy, you can get through them in about ten minutes using the right and left arrows on the keyboard.

If you are engaging existing patients and customers and attracting their friends and curious local consumers through giveaways and any publicity your page garners, then posting a photo album of your best Botox before/afters is a non-obtrusive way of showing off what you do best. Although it is easy to simply throw up the same pictures that you have on your website, Facebook gives you the ability to write little captions below the pictures, with photo-tags where you can highlight areas. This is not an annoyance, but an opportunity.

As you can see below, this sample before/after has a detailed note that casual consumers can appreciate, as well as a link to your website and your phone number. This puts you above your competitors, most of whom simply have an assistant slap up a bunch of pictures without explaining what the procedure is.

An unfounded concern of many medical spas is the photo authorization needed to put photos on Facebook. If your patient signs a waiver that authorizes you to put their photo on your website, that also applies to Facebook, so no worries there.

You can mass-upload albums of before/after albums with your comments. Another idea is fun is to organize things chronologically, and have albums like "March 2010 Botox." This builds up trust with consumers, who know you aren't just cherrypicking your best results from ten years ago, but are routinely getting great results.

You should also have an album of staff in action, like a facial, massage, or the receptionist smiling warmly by the front door. If you do events, have a photo album for each event showing how informative and fun it was. If you're a guest on the local tv morning talk show, get a picture with the host and post it.

Your photo albums can be an organic extension of what's going on with you and your practice. Most of the time, these pictures are already being taken, you just have to use them!

Dysport Reviews

2010-01-26T04:50:10Z

Evidently Dysport is very friendly with some docs. Too friendly for the FDA when it comes to promoting Dysport before it's been approved.

From Pierce Mattie PR:

It appears it is not only bloggers that are feeling the heat from the government in regards to their relationships with the brands they write about, but cosmetic dermatologists as well. Recently the FDA made an example of Dr. Leslie Baumann by sending her a warning when she was sourced for several beauty magazine articles regarding her positive praise of Dysport, the newly approved Botox competitor created by Medicis prior to such approval. The warning appears to have more to do with disclosure than anything else, which, mark my words, will be the buzzword of 2010 due in part to both the FTC and FDA.

Dr. Baumann was given 10 days to "clean up her act;" I wonder how her publicists will handle that.

It is a publicist's job to land their client in A+ publications and in this fierce competitive world of Beauty PR, everyone wants to be first to be sourced for being in the know about the latest and greatest beauty treatment.

However, Dr. Baumann's publicists should've been more careful considering her relationship with Medicis as an "investigator" for Dysport. In all of the articles she was quoted in, not once did she disclose this relationship, but merely indicated her praise that the neurotoxin was more effective than Botox.

Aesthetic Predictions for 2010

2010-01-20T17:15:24Z

I think everyone staring out in the aesthetic industry, especially if you are a non-core practice, needs some sort of a guru. Someone to guide you along the way in your decisions on equipment, procedures, pricing, staffing, standard operating procedures, menu of services, etc. Our guru many years ago was Fran Acunzo from Acara Partners. Perhaps Fran's most famous, or successful client, is Dr. Bruce Katz of Juva MediSpa in New York City.

I remember listening to some of his suggestions he had for us at the time and saying "Is he serious? I have no idea what this SmartLipo thing is, but if he thinks it is going to be the next big thing, then we had better trust him as our consultant". Needless to say, Fran was right. And not only about adding SmartLipo to our practice when it was first approved by the FDA, but other procedures and services as well. So, to me, when Fran speaks... I listen.

Fran blogged his predictions for aesthetic procedures for the year 2010 and it's already making it's way across the internet cited and adapted into blogs by SpaFinder.com (Read Susie's comments on such predictions) and many, many others. If you have not yet read his predictions, I'd like to post them here in their entirety:

Here are my 2010 top 10 predictions in the world of Aesthetic Medicine

1. Dysport will become a strong competitor to Botox. Dysport, Medicis’ new entry into the world of botulinum toxin, was launched in the spring of 2009 and has begun to see increased demand as market awareness grows.

2. Non-invasive body contouring will continue to grow in popularity lead by Erchonia’s Zerona.

3. Face lifts will continue to drop in demand while liquid face-lifts grow in popularity, especially with the younger market (40 -54 year olds)

4. Fat transfer, specifically for natural breast enhancement, will become sought after by women who were previously uncomfortable with implants.

5. Laser Lipolysis will continue to be one of the most in-demand medical aesthetic procedures due to its minimal downtime and great results.

6. The younger audience (24 – 40 year olds) will continue to discover aesthetic medical services for preventive aging.

7. There will be an increase in the number of men having aesthetic medical procedures starting with facial fillers and injectables (i.e. Botox, Restylane, Radiesse, etc.)

8. The tipping point of when men and women want to have their tattoos removed will arrive and the demand will grow exponentially.

9. Facial Rejuvenation will come of age as medical practitioners perfect their skill combining aesthetic medical facial procedures for a complete Medical Makeover including the combination of fractional resurfacing, ablative resurfacing, chemical peels, photofacials, skin tightening, injectables and facial fillers, etc.

10. What was an Extreme Makeover in 2003 when the then popular TV show hit the airwaves will now become the Everyday Makeover.

It is entirely up to you whether or not you place your trust in Fran's predictions. I would guess to say there would be some discepancies amongst professions, but I can tell you I am already beginning to see many of these prove true in our own practice. It's also interesting to me that, upon research, I could find no other person or entity posting such predictions.

So, unless you have a crystal ball somewhere that has worked for you, I'm sticking to what has worked for us!

Realself.com

2010-01-16T04:36:08Z

Tom Seery of realself.com and I had a fairly long discussion a few days ago about both Realself.com and Medical Spa MD's approaches to the marketplace and strategic directions.

Of course one of the topics we touched on was realself.com's decision to remove all physicians from the site that were not board certified plastic surgeons or dermatologists.

Tom didn't get into much detail on this point other than to say it was a long story and that keeping only board ceritified plastic surgeons and derms was the decison they'd made, and they're going to stick to it.

While I don't really have a decision staked out on this I made the point that physicians get good at what the do a lot of. If I were a Botox patient I'd much rather have a non-core doc with a lot of experience shoot me up than a fantastic plastic surgeon who almost never does it. (Truth be told, I can't see the flaw in that logic.)

I can understand realself.com's decision on a purely business decision. Realself.com's looking for some level of credentials to make sure that the laymen who are the real target market of the site are getting at least some level of 'trained' physician.

Realself.com is great for patients who are researching treatments. The consumer-centric focus differs from our physician-centric community but there's some small overlap.

One of the thoughts I opined to Tom was that I could see it would be challenging for new physicians who were just coming on to the site to be motivated to contribute with the way their ranking system works. If you're answering a lot of questions you get greater visibility and promotion internally on the site. While it stimulates some docs to write a lot of answers, it's hard to see how any new physicians could come up with the number of answers to gain some placement. Tom says they're going to launch some new initiatives that will 'promote' new physicians. (This might anger some docs who have spent endless hours writing answer about Botox or liposuction.)

Anyone here have an opinion about realself.com?

Facebook, Twitter, & Media Attention For Your Medical Spa.

2010-01-15T00:01:04Z

We've already covered how to launch a Facebook page, what to post, and how to advertise your social media pages.

The next step in getting more people to opt in to be marketed to is to find media, third party Facebook groups and influential Twitter users who will recommend or tout your information.

Every city has a bunch of blogs, twitterers, and Facebook groups whose sole reason for existence is to find local spa and beauty deals and to cover their experiences trying them out. They have large local followings who trust their source to be up to date and give them the best information possible. If you want to make a splash in your local scene of social media and beauty, you should definitely spend some time researching this.

Let's take a city like Denver, for example. There's a blog called Pamper Yourself! Denver, which highlights spa and beauty deals and giveaways. They also have a great Twitter feed, @denverbeauty, which has over 5,000 followers. If you have promotable events going on like giveaways and live procedures, or want someone with a local following to review your services, this is a great target. There is a "Contact Us" form on the blog, or you could tweet @denverbeauty to get their attention.

With some more googling, you can find that there's a producer at ABC-7 (KMGH, if you're keeping score at home) named Deb Staley. She has a popular weekly feature called Deb's deals, which has an online version found here. She also has a Twitter feed, with @debbiesdeals. It is her job to report on local things that are on sale or when there's a special going on, and everyone who follows her on Twitter or reads her stories is actively seeking out that information. She's an ideal target to contact with your giveaway or special info.

Searching on Twitter for terms like denver beauty, denver spa, denver Botox, denver giveaway, denver doctors, etc. will give you info on what your competitors are doing to promote themselves as well as who would be interested in hearing about what you're doing. @weheartdenver, with 840 followers who "heart" Denver, would be a great feed to contact with information on yourself. @DNVDealofwk, with 1,600 followers would also be interested, provided you're doing a giveaway. Doing the same on Facebook comes up with Denver Fashion (164 fans), Fashion Denver (1700 fans), Denver Fashion Beat(393 fans), Denver Pure Fashion (71 fans), WOW Denver (71 fans).

So far we've only talked about third party sites that only exist to help out their readerships by promoting local deals and giveaways. Once your page is rolling, other potential targets are cross channel businesses, preferably those that already have their own Facebook pages. For example, in Denver, one could search on Twitter and Facebook for Denver nail salon, Denver beauty salon, Denver boutique, Denver lingerie shop. Send them a message and offer to give away a few of their products on your page to your fan base, if they reciprocate on theirs. You're marketing to the same people, so joining forces with related services can be a huge help.

The "Donda West Law" is in Effect

2010-01-13T15:07:01Z

On January 1st the State of California put into effect the “Donda West Law”.

For those of you who are not aware of the details behind this law, Donda West was the mother of the much controversial rapper, Kanye West (the one who went up on stage and made an a** of himself when Taylor Swift was receiving her award).

Cosmetic Surgery Times reports that in 2007, Donda West died a day after she underwent an 8 hour procedure for breast reduction, liposuction and a tummy tuck. The L.A. County Coroner stated that Donda died of "coronary artery disease and multiple post-operative factors due to or as a consequence of liposuction and mammoplasty." Apparently, the autopsy results showed Donda died of pre-existing coronary artery disease and “multiple post-operative factors” a day after the procedures. The surgeon who operated on Donda surrendered his medical license in April.

The Donda West Law prohibits doctors from performing elective cosmetic surgery without a physical examination and clearance from a medical professional. The law requires an “appropriate” physical exam within 30 days before a procedure and “written clearance” from a doctor, nurse practitioner or physician’s assistant before cosmetic surgery is performed.

"Clearance of a medical professional" is the confusing part of the equation. Apparently, the plastic surgeon who performed her procedure wasn't declared a "medical professional" in the eyes of the lawmakers. For those practitioners who are currently performing invasive and minimally invasive procedures (such as laser liposuction) in other States, if you are not doing so already, you may want to re-evaluate your pre-operative procedure to include a physical examination, blood work and possibly a sign off from the patient's PCP or cardiologist.

In the infamous words of the sergeant on the 1981 episodes of "Hill Street Blues", "be careful, it's a jungle out there"!

Social Media For Cosmetic Surgeons & Medical Spas.

2010-01-12T17:01:00Z

Social media is a major reason why traditional forms of media are collapsing across the country.

Major newspapers and tv stations are cutting staffs in half or closing up altogether, in the face of declining audiences and sagging ad revenues. Social media gives people the chance to create their own virtual newspaper, completely comprised of what they're interested in. If a topic is boring or irrelevant, it's gone. Social media groups and pages make this possible, because no matter what the topic, there's a social media group dedicated to it.

A 45 year old mom in Sacramento, for example, might not be interested in sports, but she likes California politics, wine, the TV show Lost, the actor Antonio Banderas, and beauty. On Facebook, she can be a Fan of "California Senate Democrats", Red Red Wine - Sacramento, Lost, and Antonio Banderas. On Twitter, she can follow @CAPoliticsRSS,@thegrandwinebar, @Lost_initiative, @oficialantonio, etc. When it comes to beauty in Sacramento, she can follow her hair salon, favorite spa, plastic surgeon, etc. Every day when she logs in, she'll see what's going on in the state senate, hear about last night's Lost episode, read about Antonio Banderas' upcoming movie, and see all of the specials, before/after pictures, and upcoming events at her favorite local beauty providers.

These are all examples of direct social media exposure. Someone knows who you are, they become your fan/follower, and whatever you post will be seen by them. We've already covered how to start and sustain this attention in previous blog posts. Once you're established with existing customers and patients, the next step is to get random local consumers who are interested in you to find you.

One extremely cost-effective method is to buy pay-per-click Facebook advertising for your fan page. These 160-character ads with a small JPEG and link to your Fan Page will run down the right side of certain certain people's web browsers while they are on Facebook.

The beauty of PPC Facebook advertising is that it can be extremely targeted, and you only pay for the local people who click on the ad and check out your Facebook page. If you have a promotable event coming up, such as a giveaway day or a live procedure that you are performing on Facebook, they are highly recommended.

For example, you can specify that you only want the ad to be seen by women between the ages of 18 and 64, within ten miles of Sacramento, who list an interest in any of the following: beauty, shopping, tanning, travel, jewelry and spa days, the TV shows Nip/Tuck, Real Housewives, Glee, and Jersey Shore. You can add as many keywords as you like, and remember that due to the public nature of Facebook profiles, few people are going to brazenly volunteer to the world that PLASTIC SURGERY, BREAST AUGMENTATION, AND INJECTABLE FILLERS are their interests. But they will say they like beauty, or the tv show Nip/Tuck.

According to Facebook, this ad will be seen by 14,200 people, and there will only be a charge of about 60 cents every time someone clicks on it to go to your page. The odds are pretty good that if someone lives within ten miles of your practice, likes the keywords above, and clicks on an ad that says a local med-spa is doing a live cosmetic surgery procedure on Facebook or is giving away beauty products, that they'll want in on the action. You can set a minimum budget of $10 a day. If you are investing money in advertising, you have to promise yourself that you will keep the Facebook page updated with good content, or else it's a waste of money.

Be creative! Valentine's day is coming up. If you have some sort of spa day or gift set special that you'd like husbands to get for their wives, put up a detailed post with pictures and video on your fan page, and then create an ad that targets local men over 30 who mention having a wife in their profiles.

Just like with traditional media, there's paid PR (advertising), and earned PR. You have to convince third parties to cover you. Our next social media post will cover this!

A Curse On Plastic Surgery & Botox Spam

2010-01-12T16:26:21Z

A curse upon these medical spa and Botox spammers. Perhaps something involving scorpions.

Medical Spa MD got hit overnight with more than the usual amount of spam comments for 'Vacation Retreats', 'Watch the Book of Eli online', 'Plastic Surgery in Orange County' and such. It's really not very difficult to detect and we're pretty good about deleting it as fast as it comes in but it is a pain. Worse for them, it's reported as spam across the internet so that other sites block it automatically.

If you've got any relevant question or comment, please feel free to interact with our community, but to the spammers (especially the one's who post code) a slow and painful death.

P.S. One of the initiatives that Medspa MD is about to launch will be our own White Hat SEO tools and services for plastic surgeons and medial spas. I'm hoping to have it up by the end of the month.

What Should Your Medical Spa Post On Facebook

2010-01-11T16:00:16Z

We started with what to do if your medical spa doesn't have any Facebook fans. But 'content' that your patients want is what will drive readership.

Once your medical spa or plastic surgery marketing page is built and you've have a kickoff to get local potential patients aware of you, you should have at least several dozen people on your Facebook and Twitter pages. The next step? Engaging them.

Always keep in mind the kind of in your face exposure this is going to bring. When people are your fan or follower, whatever you write is going to appear in their "feed." When people sign in to Facebook and Twitter, they are presented with a list of posts from everyone they have opted to follow.

For example, when your made-up cousin Sally logs in to her Facebook account, she sees a post from her college boyfriend, a note from her mom, an invitation to a Tupperware party from her neighbor, and if she is a fan of your practice, your latest post.

If you are posting things that don't interest her, it is extremely easy for her to delete you from her account. If you are posting things that interest her or add value to her Facebook experience, it is extremely easy for her to recommend you to her friends. If you don't have something good to say, don't bother!

Facebook is great for embedded multimedia like pictures, video, and links, so simply writing text like "Come in and get Restylane for your lips, everyone is doing it!" is like buying a Ferrari and keeping it in first gear. Instead, show people why they should come in and get Restylane injections.

An easy to digest mix of entertainment, usable tips, and reality content that shows off what you do best is a winning formula. For example, over the course of a week, you could compare "The Octomom" Nadya Suleman's "trout pout" lip filler results with your own before/afters, have your aesthetician give ten winter makeup tips, and post a hand-held video (using a FlipHD video camera) that one of your assistants shot of you performing a procedure.

Posting your own reality content can even garner local media attention, just for the novelty that you are performing cosmetic surgery or injecting Botox live on Facebook.

Any of this content that showcases your expertise in a fun and interesting way provides you with easy exposure. Keep your website URL and phone number in several places on your fan page, so if someone sees something that sparks their interest, they can get in touch with you.

The biggest follow up question many doctors ask after this is, "How often should I post?" As it says above, if you don't have something good to say, don't bother. Just posting endless plastic surgery liposuction ads or touting your laser hair removal treatments is a short trip to the off-list. But, if you have quality content, then set up a schedule and figure out what you'll do for the next month.

Give your patients a feeling that they know you. A post every other day is fine to start and the more personal the content is, the better.