Are You Too White?
Have you ever looked at your clinic, your website, your social media and your branding through the eyes of a patient who isn’t white?
It’s an uncomfortable truth, yet one that we can repeat with great certainty, that the UK’s medical aesthetic industry is not diverse.
We see a vast number of aesthetic clinic websites and marketing that aesthetics clinics produce and the majority will use stock images of white, wholesome-looking, middle-class women and talk about Caucasian skin treatments.
People of colour or any diversity are drastically unrepresented.
Why
At a broader level, very clearly there is underrepresentation of people of colour in medicine. 77.9% of NHS staff are white. In the USA black people comprise 13 per cent of the population, but only 4 per cent of physicians are black.
Medical training in the UK also fails to address the diverse population it serves, demonstrated by the ongoing petition which calls on the GMC to pass guidance requiring that course material in all medical schools must include ethnically diverse examples of case presentations - especially in clinically relevant instances where disease presentation differs between white and black and minority ethnic (BAME) patients.
Aesthetics Training
The situation in aesthetics training is even more dire. Dr Soul - GP, aesthetic doctor and medical director at Nouvelle Aesthetix told GlowdayPRO that he struggled with finding any suitable training. Dr Soul said:
“Facial anatomy is not really the problem. Everyone's general anatomy is more or less the same, regardless of race, with some minor variations with respect to the course of blood vessels, etc. The main issue is how black skin behaves when treated. I didn’t feel adequately prepared treating skin of colour after training, as so little time is dedicated to the nuances of black skin. For example, how does it react when you use a chemical peel, laser, or a particular topical product like retinol? What factors may make adverse outcomes like hyper or hypopigmentation more likely? To understand all of this, you have to go and learn personally, through further reading, research or actual physical experience.”
The Black Aesthetics Advisory Board formed in 2020 to investigate the experiences of black practitioners within aesthetics, as well as those of black and minority ethnic patients and consumers, corroborated this sentiment, reporting that 81% of black aesthetic practitioners did not feel well represented in conferences and that less than 3% of 94 brand sales representatives were of black origin.
Patients Don’t Feel Seen
The lack of representation in medicine, the absence of training in ethnic aesthetics, the limited practitioners who can treat BAME patients and the focus on white people brand imagery and treatments means that people of colour simply believe that non-surgical aesthetic treatments aren’t for them.
Since the beginning of advertising, the cosmetics industry has targeted white people with treatments for Caucasian skin. There is, therefore, an assumption that black and ethnic patients don’t want treatments like Botox, fillers and they’ve been forgotten.
Dr Ewoma Ukeleghe, founder of SknDoctor, told Glamour magazine
"There needs to be more education around the potential for these treatments and how they can benefit all skin colours. For example, filler for the chin is one of the most popular treatment with my Black clients. We typically don’t have very pronounced chins, and often have concerns regarding lack of jawline definition. A defined chin, instantly improves an undefined jawline and dermal filler is a great way of achieving that."
"Occasionally, my Black clients also ask for lip filler - but it's usually to create more definition around the lip line or balancing out the shape of the lip to make it more symmetrical rather than to add volume."
What Can You Do?
Actions speak louder than words and without change there is no progress. Are you willing to step-up to ensure you’re serving ALL of your potential patients?
Self education/training - while it should be part of standard aesthetics training, it’s not, so how can you address this? What can you do to arm yourself, educate yourself and step out of your comfort zone?
If you feel you are able to treat all BAME patients, is this reflected in your website and branding? What photography do you use? What treatments do you offer?
Is your social media content educating and informing black and ethnic patients? Are you sharing before and afters of these patients?
Are you reassuring BAME patients that aesthetics treatments are for them? That lip fillers aren’t always about bigger lips and that black skin can benefit from chemical peels and microneedling too?
Can you challenge product providers? Call for more diverse KOLs?
It’s An Opportunity
This is such a poorly served market that being a practitioner who advocates treatments for black and ethnic patients brings with it a huge growth opportunity for you and your business.
Dr Mariam Adegoke, owner of the Adegoke Wellness Clinic told GlowdayPRO: “There are a lot of black men and women who want to have good treatments and are trying to find a practitioner who feels confident in treating black skin. People don’t realise just how much black and Asian people want these treatments - just as much as their Caucasian counterparts.”
Further articles to read:
https://www.glowday.com/blog/diversity-in-aesthetics-dr-mariam-adegoke
https://www.glowday.com/blog/diversity-in-aesthetics-dr-soul-mugerwa
https://www.glowday.com/blog/diversity-in-aesthetics-dr-ifeoma-ejikeme
https://www.glowday.com/blog/black-don-t-crack-aesthetics-and-black-skin