That amazing feeling, where immediately after a treatment, the delight your patient experiences is so obvious it give you immediate satisfaction of a job done well. Or that message they send you a few days later thanking you for making them feel amazing/fresh/like themselves again.

Unfortunately, it doesn’t always work out that way. Sometimes, treatments disappoint.

Nobody aims to deliver disappointing treatment outcomes. They happen sometimes, but there are things you can do to avoid them. 

Here are seven reasons patients can be disappointed with their treatments and how to avoid them.

One:

The patients expectations are too high and the practitioner hasn’t ensured that the limitations and expected outcomes were clearly communicated.

With millions of before and after photos being viewed by consumers, with filtered and edited faces being the norm across social media, magazines, TV and film, it’s no surprise that unrealistic expectations are rife. This, coupled with a rushed consultation and a practitioner who hasn’t properly educated their patient, is a perfect recipe for dissatisfaction.

To avoid this, be purposeful and clear in the language you choose. Don’t sugarcoat the information you are sharing with your patient. Give it to them straight and in an easy to understand way. Leave no room for interpretation.

“To address the dullness, texture and pigmentation you're concerned about, it will take the following treatments in clinic, backed up by a great at home skin routine. Over the next 4 months you need to do X, Y, Z at home and have A, B, C in clinic. Over the course of the year, it’s likely that the total investment in your skin will be £XXX. We can put a plan together to ensure that this is spread out over the year, so it more affordable.”

Two:

The patients expectations are too high. The practitioner HAS clearly outlined the expected outcome, the patient either hasn’t listened fully or simply hasn’t retained the information.

Often, the amount of information a patient has to take in during a consultation is vast. Clinicians often forget that most consumers have little to no background knowledge of skin or aesthetic treatments. If the consultation has been done thoroughly, a massive amount has been covered - medical history, concerns, expectations and hopes, treatment options, risks, benefits and price. This is way too much for most to digest and retain.

This is where accurate, contemporaneous documentation is a winner, for you AND your patients. Use tools to help you document the information you share with your patients thoroughly - a dictation to text tool allows you to add detailed notes with little effort.

Sharing relevant written information with your patient before, during and after the consultation or treatment not only provides evidence of the advice you’ve given, but also gives your patient the opportunity to revisit the information in their own time. Much of this can be automated, so that pre-treatment advice, consultation notes and post-treatment advice sent to your patients without you needing to remember.

Three:

The patients expectations were realistic, but they haven’t adhered the basics that would help ensure they had the best outcomes.

Aesthetic treatments are the cherry on the cake. With the layers of the cake being a reasonably healthy lifestyle and diet, plus a great skincare routine, the icing being religious use of SPF 30 + and general UV avoidance. Non-surgical in-clinic aesthetic treatments are the cherry on top.

So, for patients to have in-clinic treatments and then hop on a sunbed, or drink heavily, or, as is often the case, have a skincare routine that does nothing to support, maintain and enhance their expensive in-clinic treatments, their results won’t be as good, or last as long.

This type of patient is often most disappointed with, what should be, multi-session treatments, where the benefits are cumulative. Treatments like microneedling, skin peels and skin boosters. For these treatments to have the best outcomes, patients need to commit not only to the full course and any subsequent maintenance sessions, but they also need to be taking great care of their skin at home.

Four:

The patient is not a good candidate for the treatments but they insisted they wanted to give it a try, against your advice.

If you, as a practitioner, know the treatment isn’t going to deliver for a particular patient, but you do it anyway…well, that’s on you.

You need firmer boundaries.

Five:

The patient is not a good candidate for the treatment, but the practitioner convinced them give it a try.

If this is the case, you shouldn’t be an aesthetic practitioner.

Six:

The treatment is a dud. It over promises and under-delivers.

If you’ve trained in a treatment that consistently leaves you and your patients underwhelmed, it’s time to remove that treatment from your offering.

The potential damage to your reputation and the erosion of trust that occurs when a patient is left disappointed through no fault of their own is far more costly to your business than chalking up the loss in treatment training costs.

Seven:

The patient is a red flag, manipulative patient who is often unhappy with treatment outcomes and regularly seeks refunds/free treatments.

If a patient starts the consultation with: “My last practitioner(s)…” and proceeds to tell you all the things their last practitioner did wrong, decline to treat them. Less experienced practitioners will often be taken in by their tales, but you’ll become wise once you’ve retreated the same patient 3 times, for free, for fear of a bad review. Some patients have body dysmorphic tendencies. Some are after a freebie. And some are just plain mean! Pay attention to your gut. Ensure your documentation is top notch. Remember, you can choose your patients.

A patient won’t always tell you that they are dissatisfied

Most often, if a patient has been dissatisfied with their experience or the outcome of an aesthetic treatment, they just won’t book back in. So, if your retention isn’t great, or patients are unusually reluctant to leave reviews, it’s possible that your patients aren’t as satisfied as you would like.

Patient satisfaction is ESSENTIAL to grow your business. Here are four ways to ensure that your patients expectations are aligned with youts you should be implementing and reviewing regularly

1. Invest in your consultations - not just in terms of time, but reflect on how your consultations go.

   • What’s the set up?

   • Are you both sat comfortably?

   • Are you able to present yourself professionally in the space you have?

   • How do you document what was said?

   • Do you follow a set process during your consultations or do you freestyle it?

   • Do you provide your patients with an holistic treatment plan - over 3, 6, 12 months? Or are you reactive in your recommendations - only discussing the immediate concern they came in with? 

   • Do you have a programme of offering existing patients consultations to review their progress and skin/aesthetic goals?

     A great consultation, the patient is educated, options and budgets are discussed, trust is built and both you and the patient are clear on concerns and expectations. This allows a treatment plan to be drawn up and agreed upon. This means that the return on the time invested during that initial consultation is likely to be significant.

2. Communicate openly and clearly - both about your boundaries and protocols, and about the treatments you are recommending. Not just during the consultation or treatments, but before and after. This means that there are no blurred lines and both parties are on the same page.

3. Follow verbal information with written information - not only does it help protect you from any future “he said, she said” situations, it’s also great for the patient to have information to refer back to. Key points discussed during the consultation, particular pre-treatment advice, the recommended treatments, the cost. Even better…automate and document this!

4. Seek feedback - you may think you’re nailing it, but have you actually checked? Have you asked whether they felt rushed? Whether they had enough information? Whether they understood the options available to them? Informally and formally ask your patients for honest feedback.