Are you only looking for the lowest price at a dermatology clinic?

Haven't you checked

who is performing the procedure

yet?

These days, as talk about the economy

keeps making the news every day,

more and more people are first searching for

"something a little cheaper,"

and that number has really gone up.

Even I, whenever I have a spare moment between patients,

look at what is going on in the world

and end up thinking about all sorts of things.

Especially in times like these, there is something you should consider

even more than cost.

Let me start today’s story with one of the questions

I hear most often in the treatment room.

Have you perhaps thought that getting treatment directly at a dermatology clinic

was just something like "it is good if the director does it"

and left it at that?

In fact, who actually handles the device

accounts for half of the treatment result.

💡 Key summary of today’s post

Q. Why is it important to get a procedure directly from a specialist

at a dermatology clinic?

A. Because the procedure’s energy settings and indication judgment

depend entirely on the operator’s skill.

Q. How common is delegated treatment (procedures done by nurses or aestheticians)

in reality?

A. In industry practice, it is more common than you might think.

You absolutely need to check.

Q. What should you check when choosing a clinic for direct treatment

by a doctor?

A. The key is to check whether the same person handles consultation

and the procedure.

I will cover that in detail in the main text.

What determines the treatment result is

not the device, but the person

This is something many people misunderstand,

but even when the same device is used, the results are different.

Whether it is a laser, radiofrequency, or ultrasound,

the device itself is the same.

But there is something important here.

Who decides the energy level, depth of delivery, and density settings,

and on what basis they make that judgment,

completely changes the result.

This is a little difficult, but

for example, in laser hair removal,

the treatment energy should be different for someone with a lot of coarse hair

and someone with thin, light hair.

The person who can make that judgment

is a doctor with a medical license and clinical experience,

and that is exactly why direct treatment is so important.

In fact, in a study by the American Academy of Dermatology

on dermatology laser procedures,

it was reported that the operator’s clinical judgment

directly affects the rate of side effects.

Delegated treatment,

is much more common than you think

To be honest,

in the dermatology industry, nurses or aestheticians

directly operating laser and radiofrequency devices

is a fairly common practice.

The doctor only handles the consultation,

and someone else performs the actual procedure.

The tricky part is,

it is not very visible from the outside.

Just because you saw the doctor during the first consultation

does not guarantee that doctor will perform the procedure.

I always tell patients this in advance, too,

but before you visit, it is a good idea to check at least once,

"Will the director personally perform the actual procedure too?"

I strongly recommend asking that.

Even relatively expensive procedures like Thermage or Ultherapy

are sometimes carried out as delegated treatment,

and the key judgments involved in these procedures

are covered in more detail in Things You Must Know Before a Thermage FLX Procedure.

👨‍⚕️ Director Wi Young-jin’s practical note

When I see people who come in after getting treatment somewhere else because it did not work

or because side effects developed,

most of the time the energy setting was either too low

or, conversely, too high.

In my experience, the variation in settings by skin type

is much greater than people expect.

Especially for people with thin or heat-sensitive skin,

you cannot use the standard settings as they are.

This is something a doctor has to look at the skin directly

and decide on the spot,

not an area that can be handled

strictly by following a manual.

It is hard to say that delegated treatment is absolutely bad,

but at least for first-time patients or people with skin trouble,

I strongly recommend direct treatment by a specialist.

Here is how to check a clinic

that provides direct treatment

When you actually ask whether they provide direct treatment,

most places say yes.

So you need to check it a little more specifically.

If you organize the points to check, it looks like this.

1. Whether the same doctor handles consultation, diagnosis, and the procedure

2. How the clinic operates when the director is absent that day

3. Who decides when a setting change is needed during the procedure

4. Whether a doctor directly rechecks the skin condition before the procedure

If you ask these four things,

you can start to see the structure to some extent.

But there is also an aspect where this is not

entirely good.

Direct-treatment clinics have packed schedules,

and the waiting time may be long

or booking may be difficult in the first place.

The downside is that the turnover rate is low ^^..

Still, when a doctor’s judgment directly intervenes in a procedure

versus when it does not,

the results are different.

Key takeaway

Direct treatment by a dermatology specialist is

a condition that should be considered before device selection,

and the key is checking whether the same doctor handles

the consultation and the procedure.

Why does Dr. Wi Young-jin

insist on direct treatment?

I still handle everything myself,

from consultation to procedure.

To be honest,

this is not easy physically.

There is inevitably a limit to

how many cases I can see in a day.

Even so, I keep direct treatment because,

although it depends on the case,

there are quite a few situations where I look at the skin

and change the energy or the method on the spot.

If you only follow the manual,

there are variables you will never catch.

I did not know these things at first either,

and there were things I only learned after doing hundreds of cases.

For those who come from the Hongdae, Hapjeong, Sinchon, and Ewha areas,

among people who said,

"I got treatment several times somewhere else, but it did not work,"

there were many cases where satisfaction changed dramatically

after 2 to 3 treatments in my clinic.

Most of the time, it was due to differences in energy settings

or in judging the treatment area.

Frequently asked questions

Q1. Why is it important to get a procedure directly from a specialist

at a dermatology clinic?

A. The treatment result depends more on the operator’s clinical judgment

than on the device.

Energy intensity, depth of delivery, and response to the skin

all become more accurate when a doctor is directly involved.

Q2. If the doctor does the consultation

and someone else performs the procedure, is that illegal?

A. This is a legally complex issue,

so I cannot say definitively.

However, there are standards regarding the scope of medical practice

and the scope of tasks that can be delegated,

and from a consumer’s perspective,

checking in advance is the most practical approach.

Q3. Can I get direct treatment

even on Sundays?

A. Yes, I provide direct treatment on Sundays as well.

People who find it hard to make time on weekdays

often use Sunday appointments.

If you have any questions,

feel free to contact me via KakaoTalk.

You can ask before visiting, too.

This was Wi Young-jin.

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