Podcast Recap – Body Dysmorphic Disorder (BDD) in Aesthetics
In this episode, we delve into the intricate relationship between Body Dysmorphic Disorder (BDD) and the aesthetics industry. Our guests, Marisa Stringer, NP-CANS, and Leslie Beltowski, PA-C, share their insights on the challenges that providers face when navigating patients’ unrealistic expectations. They explore how supernormal stimuli influence these perceptions and emphasize the importance of setting boundaries to ensure the well-being of patients. The conversation also touches on the vital role of self-acceptance and self-love in aesthetic pursuits, highlighting the impact of societal beauty standards. Ethical practices, such as avoiding overfilling or unnecessary treatments, are discussed as essential responsibilities for injectors. This episode encourages a holistic approach to aesthetics, where prioritizing the emotional needs and individuality of each patient is key.
Listen on Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/body-dysmorphic-disorder-bdd-in-aesthetics/id1731150126?i=1000665794402
Listen on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/7sSIW8VMeHqNJCuI4UEgXT
Watch Vodcast: https://coremedsource.com/core-matters-in-healthcare-podcast
Transcript of show:
Signe Monson
Hi everyone and welcome to Core Matters in Healthcare. I’m Signe Monson with CoreMedSource. I am with Marissa Stringer, a dermatology and aesthetics nurse practitioner from Pine Belt Dermatology. And she is also our CoreMedSource APRN director. And with Leslie Beltkowski, an aesthetic physician assistant with Lewis Plastic Surgery in Richmond, Virginia. And today we have a very interesting and kind of controversial topic for you, which is BDD in aesthetics. One I’m sure that many of you listeners have run into in your practice, if you are in aesthetics or even if you are not, because certainly we are all aware of this today with the focus on physical appearance, right? That continues to grow and rise and rise today. So anyway, hi Marissa, hi Leslie. Welcome, welcome.
So I wanted to mention to you guys, coincidentally, I was talking to a plastic surgery physician assistant that I know, and she was just telling me about how her colleague had a patient, I believe it was last week, had come in for Botox and she was very beautiful, but completely done, meaning she looked like a doll. Like everything was almost overly fake looking. And she commented how she had spent $100 ,000 so far to look like, like that. So she had seemingly done this on purpose, right? Would you say that that is BDD if they know they are doing it?
Marisa Stringer
So actually, maybe so. You know, there’s different things I think that in this industry that can cause a person to feel a certain way or to make them come keep coming back for more treatments when it comes to making us prettier. You know, there is true body dysmorphia, which is, you know, defined as an actual obsession with your appearance and wanting to continue to improve that. And that is a true mental disorder, and it has a lot of background as back in childhood, like abuse and neglect and things like that. So there are links with body dysmorphia. And then of course you have other things that we’re going to discuss with myself and Leslie that could be also having an effect on patients in the way that they view themselves.
Leslie Beltowski
Yeah, I agree. I do agree. I see that a lot where people working in plastic surgery setting, come in and they’ve had one procedure and then a year or two, again, they have their breasts done and then they have a BBL. So it’s kind of a slippery slope and they’re kind of searching for this unrealistic idea of perfection, which I think our beauty standards today have really shifted and just the culture with celebrities and our technological advancements in aesthetics as well. So I think it’s multifactorial, but I definitely see that. I would say that that patient with just looking completely overdone and spending $100 ,000, I think there is probably somebody dysmorphic disorder present. just never satisfied. It’s never enough just always chasing this unrealistic expectation and idea.
Signe Monson
Right, right.
I thought that was interesting how she was completely aware of that, that she was doing that. So with that, I’m going to hand this discussion over to you two. And I would say that you’ve got kind of some loaded, a very kind of loaded and sensitive topics you’re going to discuss, right? Because providers can feel quite uncomfortable or even unsure navigating this and how to deal with patients such as that, or even patients with much milder
much milder symptoms or what you will, what you call that. And hopefully our listeners will be able to gain some insight and some tips from your discussion. So take it away, ladies.
Marisa Stringer
So how do you want to start, Leslie? you know, we see this so much. I know you see it especially in a different, you know, you’re in a different, I’m in Derm and I do aesthetics. You’re in plastics and do aesthetics. So we kind of see similar things, but also yet different, you know? I mean, what are your thoughts on this?
Marisa Stringer
Thank you, Signe. Yeah, so Leslie, know, you and I were discussing this before, and you and I have been in the industry long enough to see that we see this and it’s very prevalent. And I think it’s kind of cool because you are in plastics, but you’re in aesthetic PA. I’m in dermatology and I’m in aesthetic NP. So tell me what your thoughts are on this, what you see.
Leslie Beltowski
Yeah, Marissa, it’s definitely widespread. I’ll put it that way. You I would probably say almost encounter it at least on a weekly basis. And then you definitely have patients that you know, while they’re just coming for their Botox, but they have a lot, you know, of maybe like unrealistic expectations. And they’ve asked like for more filler and I’ve had to, you know, to tell them no. So I definitely see it. And what you, one topic that I want to bring up what you sparked is like, how long it takes to get comfortable practicing and saying no, because that’s a skill to kind of relate to these patients in a kind manner and uplifting way and not make them feel like attacked. How long do you feel like it took you to get comfortable being okay saying no and just being confident in that discussion?
Marisa Stringer
You know, for me, I’m just that person anyway. Like I’m like the sweet southern voice and it’s still hard. You know, I’ve done this for 15 years now and I agree. I feel like for me, I’ve changed my practice all the time. But my practice is constantly evolving in how I do things differently and also how I approach my patients when it comes to having that tough discussion. And I feel like though now I’m more comfortable, you just have to word it in a way to where they understand that, you know, this is what you want, but now it is to a point where it’s starting to look not right, not natural. And, you know, for my patients, um…I try to make them feel comfortable with me to begin with to where I can just say, and I’m not going to be blunt, I’m going to be more on lines of kind of saying, look, I really don’t think that this is going to look good on you. We’re kind of where we are right now. Let’s let it be. But, there are some patients that don’t take it as well. And if they leave and don’t come back, then they just don’t come back because I feel like at the end of the day, and I think you probably agree, you know, my name is on your lips. My name is on your face. And if that’s not the work that that I believe in, then I don’t want to pursue that. And I feel like also, and you and I, I’m sure we’ve injected enough to where sometimes I’ll inject and have the best outcome I want, that I want, but it may not turn out that way. And so a patient might come in and have some blip filler migration, even after however long I’ve been injecting. And I mean, that happens. So we still have to be humble about it and…you know, definitely learn how to have that discussion and learn how to say, you know what, I kind of jacked this up a little bit, we need to fix this.
Leslie Beltowski
Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, I would say it took probably a good year and a half to kind of like just get my footing and just be like, look, I’m in control of this, this console. I’m in control with the treatments that I’m providing. And I think explaining, you know, if a patient clearly she said filler after filler after filler, you know, at some point, like this is medically unsafe. This is not, you know, in your best interest. And like you said, I don’t want you to look abnormal. Like we are, in our society, like we’re judged on how we look. And if I have you out there looking abnormal, like that is not in your best interest, right? So I think sticking to your core values as a provider and an injector is really important. And like you, like you just spoke of that patient out there is your walking billboard and that’s your brand. And your brand is basically like, what are people saying about you? What are people saying about me when you’re not in the room? My aesthetic and similar to yours, like very minimalistic. love regenerative medicine, anything that I can do without filler, I love to do first. And then of course, you know, we need to add that volume, but that you’re going to attract those patients that kind of agree and align with your aesthetic. So I think that’s important to, you know, have a defined brand. And then also in those consults, these are, you know, these are the expectations. This is what this is how that’s going to go and just establish that these are the boundaries immediately on that first consult, I think that’s really helpful versus kind of like in the beginning, like, okay, we’ll do a little this, okay, and you’re kind of like meek in the back versus this is how this is going to go. I’m confident I have your best interest at heart. I’m never going to do anything unsafe or make you look abnormal.
Marisa Stringer
Yeah, no, I agree. And I think that’s a very good point. I think that it does take time as injectors.
in order to be comfortable to say, in order to be comfortable to be uncomfortable, you know, because there are going to be those conversations. I mean, that’s part of, like you said, you see it weekly, so do I. You have to have that conversation where you say, there’s nothing more I can do. I can’t put any more tox in you, you’re frozen enough, or, you know, your lips are starting to migrate here, or, you know, your cheeks are starting to come out here. and that’s a, it’s a good point because we do see it and we have to understand as injectors to be able to have that discussion. But you’re right, it’s hard. And I think newer injectors are probably going to have a more difficult time to say no, because they’re fighting. This is your bread and butter. You’re fighting to keep these patients. And in a way you’re probably terrified that you’re going to lose this patient versus, you know, so I think that there’s a delicate balance. You know, you’re trying to please this patient, but you also are teetering on that fine line of your own moral, you know, aesthetic values and ethical values. So a point I want to bring up because you and I have discussed this and it’s kind of a cool thing that’s out there that kind of makes you wonder, you know, in this podcast we’re going to talk about patients and what kind of brings what makes a patient come in to keep wanting more but then we’re also going to talk later about the injectors too and what makes the injector say yay or nay on pulling that trigger because we know patients can inject themselves somebody is filling these patients up and so I want to dive deeper into that but we were reading and discussing a really cool thing called a supernormal stimuli or supernormal stimulus and this was about a guy who won Nobel Peace Prize if I remember correctly, he was a brilliant scientist from the Netherlands but he came up with a really cool thought on a really neat way of looking at things about human nature and that is called supernormal stimulus and we did some digging Leslie and I’ve been doing some digging into it and reading up on it and like you said we kind of went down this wormhole because we can relate to this you know there’s a lot in our society now that can relate to that and I’m just going to read the definition really quickly because I suck at definitions so I’m going to read it off and then we’ll kind of dig into it but it’s the definition is a stimulus that elicits a response greater than the stimulus for the response to begin with. So it was kind of an evolution that started with animals with him. And just kind of really quickly he was doing experiments. Now this is by Nico Tinbergen, who is this really cool scientist. He did a lot with animals and biology and kind of came up with these really very interesting ways of looking at things about the human nature and how we’ve evolved from animals all the way to humans and things in our modern society. But he would do some experiments and a couple of experiments he did that I thought was incredibly interesting would be that he would get these birds and he would take these eggs of these mother birds and he would paint them with very bright colors of the real eggs or artificial eggs. He’d make them bigger and brighter and bolder and he found in these experiments that the mother bird would actually sit on the artificial eggs because they were brighter than her own light gray or pale blue eggs. And so another thing that he did was he would paint the bottom of these artificial fish with bright colors and found that the male fish would actually attack the artificial brighter fish more aggressively than just the regular fish. So a neat thing about supernormal stimulus but how it can relate to us in aesthetics and so I kind of want your take on that Leslie and see what you think about it.
Leslie Beltowski
Yeah, so prior to you reaching out about this podcast, I’d never heard of that term. However, after going down the rabbit hole, like you said, it’s widespread in basically so many different realms and facets of our lives. And one of the definitions that I wrote down is it’s right wrote down is it’s hijacking of animal’s instinct beyond their evolutionary purpose. And that really was kind of an easier way for me to understand, and so, you know, I’ve been practicing for over 10 years now, but like you mentioned with the food, so junk food is genetically engineered to be appealing with lots of salt and sugar and bright colors. So we’re going to eat it right. We’re going to make a we’re more likely to eat that food. That’s not good for us. And then TV, Internet and one specific example I wanted to share is I remember so heartbreaking. I was in primary care and I had a patient because it’s also very prevalent with pornography. And he was probably about 24 years old and he was like, you know, been watching porn for a long time. And he got to the point where he could no longer, um, you know, get there with a normal female. And he’s like, I’m in a relationship. I really want to, but he was unable to because his brain was so used to this super normal stimuli. And he was expecting these things. Yes. And I felt so terrible for him. Like he’s this young, attractive guy and he’s in this situation and
Marisa Stringer
So almost blunted. Mm -hmm.
Leslie Beltowski
So there’s just so many different avenues and different ways that this can happen. Another really cool thing that they studied was in art. And they did research and compared different artists and they will paint their subjects with bigger lips and bigger eyes to be more aesthetic pleasing. And I was just like, oh my gosh. And so in aesthetics, it’s just, it’s kind of that exaggerated look and it’s not, I feel like we’ve kind of gotten away from just restoring that natural volume and just let’s pop out these lines in your lip to that lot of vertical height, that Kardashian look, that Kylie Jenner look. And I think it’s a big issue. I think it’s a big problem and it sets a precedent and a standard for just regular people. That’s hard, know, that people think, oh, I have to look a certain way. And I know in aesthetics, like you mentioned at the conferences, we went to one last year and it was, would say 30 to 40 % of the patient people attending that were medical providers, injectors looked really overdone. And even I got a really great tip, just I’m a little ADHD, so bear with me. I really got a really great tip from Rana. Last month I went to train with her and she said, any patient over 50 years old, don’t fill their vermilion border. She said at 50 and older that, it’s blunted, it’s not going to look age appropriate. And that really stuck with me. It’s like, most of my patients, luckily, they’re actually older and they just want to look a little bit younger like they used to. They don’t want like an exaggerated version of themselves. But I think kind of encouraging patients to get back to that kind of normal looking, let’s just restore the volume that you’ve lost versus this really exaggerated cheek and lip and people just put these big chins on and just like, their chin was fine. So yeah.
Marisa Stringer
I know, I agree. But you’re right, when it comes to this whole facet, when we’re talking about what brings a patient in, yes, there’s body dysmorphic disorder and that is thrown around this verbiage so much. Like, oh, she’s got BDD, I got a little BDD. But true BDD is an actual mental disorder and it stems from childhood for different things as we’re looking though at supernormal stimulus, this is something that affects anybody. And I mean, like I was telling you before we came on, I am a sucker for marketing. If you make it shiny, pretty, try me flashy, brand new. I’m going to be the first to try it because I can’t help myself. So I think that we all are probably a little bit guilty of, you know, going for something brighter, shinier, tasting better when it comes to junk food to some degree. I mean, there’s days where I probably need a salad but I want a bag of chips you know so I think we’re all guilty of that but you know it’s just a very interesting theory that I think carries into what we do as injectors because you know a lot we see it but I want to understand it. I want to understand what brings these patients in not not just so we know how to talk to them but I want to understand it so I know what the plan is for them moving forward. So I think it’s important that we kind of start thinking about what is bringing people in to keep asking for these procedures and it you know again till you think about it as a dopamine hit. Every time you go in and you know Dr. Tim Pierce, he’s an awesome injector and speaker and he brought up a good point, you know, in one of his lectures that when you come in and you get something done, you do get that immediate dopamine hit and you’re like, oh my gosh, I’m great, this is great. But then it kind of goes away and then you’re kind of on this ebb and flow like, oh, I think I want, it’s time for some more and then you get a little bit of something and then you’re feeling good for a little while and then boom, it’s down again.
Marisa Stringer
And then next thing you know, you’re completely overdone. You’re not looking like yourself. And I think that this brings up a good topic where we’re saying, okay, here’s the patient. We recognize these patients, we’re starting to understand what is bringing them in or what is their thought processes or what’s going on in their mental. But now, where do we stop that? And so I think that’s another thing to bring up. Again, this is a bit controversial, I’m sure, because we have, I know, I’m sure we all know injectors that are probably injecting and probably… might be overdoing it a little bit too. And I think that we should look at what makes this injector want to continue to inject this patient because we know patients can inject themselves. So what are your thoughts on that?
Leslie Beltowski
Like the basically with the pressures that the injector is facing to provide those I would say probably pressures because as we’ve seen this shift, because I feel like it went really unnatural and I feel like we’re kind of going back to more of a natural lip, more of a natural aesthetic. And so I think if they’re like, oh, well, this is the norm, the Kardashians are doing it or Megan Fox is doing it or whoever, then this is an acceptable thing to do to my patients. So I think it’s a lot with our society. And then I think
The other thing we need to remember is that we’re providers first. So we, is our job and our responsibility to take care of these patients. And if we, if we have an injector, a friend or colleague that is kind of, you know, you’re not looking like you’re okay. You’re looking like you’re going down the slippery slope, but like, what are the underlying issues that you’re, you’re coming in and getting these dopamine hits and doing these treatments, maybe masking some, you know, internal things that need to be processed, that need to be, to be worked on. And a lot of things, one topic I’ve been just kind of working on outside of this is like aesthetic treatments, they don’t help you love yourself. You know, they can, they can make you feel more and more confident, more empowered. But accepting yourself for who you are and that reason only, I struggle with. Like, I think it’s really hard. And I think a lot of people, like they’re seeking this perfection of a little bit here, a little bit here. I still don’t feel good about myself. Let’s add a little bit more. And they just keep going.
When at the end of the day, think we need to look inward, you know, try to heal, try to love ourselves for who we are. I think that’s a good place to start. And that is, like you said, that’s a hard conversation. Well, what’s going on with you? You know, I mean, I think we, goes on with everybody, but I think, you know, identifying, it’s like, okay, we’ve identified it. And now what are we going to do about it? You know, like, is this patient okay? Generating the awareness for them and sharing it. Hey, this is what I’m seeing.
And this is coming up from a place of love and trying to uplift. Like, this is what I’m seeing. Can we get in more of a discussion about this? And the other thing that’s helpful is you can even ask, what is your emotional prompt for being here? Is it a wedding? Is it a… I have a lot of patients who they just got retired and they’re like, I’m ready to focus on myself. And I’m like, okay, that’s great. Or I actually had a patient who she wanted to have some things done because she was going to see her ex in court and they had had like a physical abuse situation. And I was like, I didn’t like that answer. I’m like, I know that there’s a lot there. I know that you want to be confident and whatever, but it really made me feel, and it was a cool sculpting patient. So it’s like, you know, we’re freezing fat. I’ll do that all day. But it still was like, that was her emotional response to having that treatment done. So I think, yeah, we need to be detectives and we need to put the patient first.
Leslie Beltowski
Why are they here? What’s that emotional reasoning for them being there? And if we, our little spidey senses go off and there’s an issue there, then we need to have the courage to talk about it.
Marisa Stringer
No, I agree. I totally agree. And I think that, like you said, what is triggering this? Is this something that is diving deeper? What is truly bringing you in for this treatment? Is this something I just want to feel good? Or is this a deeper type of trigger? Like saying I had a patient come in and she was meeting her ex in court. He was doing terrible things. She like, she doesn’t look good. It’s almost like, we know what’s really going on, different ways to go about having aesthetic treatments. You know, it’s great to do things and to feel good about yourself and to look a little bit younger and more refreshed. But then that’s where I feel like we start going into this tunnel of… I’m feeding something that I can’t satisfy every single time. that’s like you said, and I think that’s a great point you brought up is try to have people see truly themselves. And like you said, you have to love yourself because if you don’t, those are the people that are probably going to be the ones coming in all the time, wanting more and wanting more, and again, as an injector, not all injectors may not be able to see that. And sadly, some injectors are just like, what else can I sell you? And I know that we try to get away from that, but I know that there’s still injectors out there that it is all about the bottom line. And it’s sad, I think. And then again, there are some injectors, I think, like you and I mentioned, we’ve gone to conferences together, one specifically last year. And like you said, a lot of people were incredibly unnatural looking and they were injectors themselves. So they might have a little bit of BDD or they might have fallen into this supernormal stimuli where next thing you know they probably don’t realize it but they’re like oh my gosh I’m overdone but then you know if they’re looking like this what are they visualizing for their patient? You know like what’s that canvas looking like for them on their patient because they already have the canvas on them and they see themselves in the every day. So, I don’t know. I think these are good things to think about for sure.
Leslie Beltowski
Yeah, for sure. That’s true. if they’re and that’s when we go back to brand like when you go see an injector, look at look at their face, look at their aesthetic. And, you know, is that something that you want to align with? Is that something that you are comfortable with? You know, I think that’s a telltale tell sign. What? And I don’t know the answer to this. And I don’t know if you have any thoughts about like what can be done for the injectors that are just taking it too far and you know, kind of, I hate to say this, but it kind of gives aesthetics a bad name. Cause I mean, how many times do have patients come in? Like I do not want to look overdone. They’re terrified of filler because of what they see around them or their best friend at the country club or whatever. So what can we do for it for these overfilled injectors? Like, I mean, I think this is great. I think awareness, and I always tell my family and my husband, if I ever overdo it, or Marissa, if I ever look crazy, you better tell me immediately. it’s a slippery slope, and that perception drift, we forget what we look like. So do you have any thoughts about that?
Marisa Stringer
Yeah, no, I agree. Yes, I think that’s such a good point. Like, so what do we do? You know, because, and it’s hard. I feel like it’s an uphill battle because think about social media. It’s wicked. It’s a wicked beast. It really is. And then you have people that are injectors. And, you know, again, you and I have been doing this several years, you know, and I’ve seen the industry change a lot. Now we have injectors on every corner. And I’m not saying they’re not good injectors, but there are so many newer injectors. There are so many injectors out there that have these positions almost of power, you know, and that’s where it kind of starts is, but are they emotionally and mentally? What am I trying to say? Mature enough to be actually putting filler in people’s faces. You know what I mean? It’s not the skill. It’s not the skill part and again this is controversial. I’m sure we’re going to get some backlash about it, but whatever. is this we’re just talking. All we need is wine, but I feel like they’re you know that is where you have people that really just they might be great skilled injectors, but I feel like as an injector you have to have a chore mindset in addition to having that good hand and that artistic eye because that’s where we can get into trouble and next thing you know you have patients looking like that and the next thing you know you have patient’s friends saying did you see you know and sometimes unfortunately like I would hope that you and I would tell each other but their friends that don’t they will tell their other friends, but they won’t tell that person so I think that There it’s going to take a lot of awareness. It’s going to take more Bringing up these topics of types of topics the ones that are difficult you know to have to some degree because it’s difficult sitting in front of somebody but I mean it’s difficult in general even with two girlfriends talking, you know? So, yeah.
Leslie Beltowski
Yeah. Well, and I think you, you being a trainer, that also gives you more of a platform and with your, you know, educational endeavors that you have, you know, you’re building this thing and you’re, hey, you incorporate that into your trainings. And this is the things that we’re, we have to be on the lookout for. These are some strategies to deal with this. So I think you’re doing a good job. Thank you for bringing awareness. I think it’s awesome. And we’re all learning and growing. And like you said, our practices are always learning. We’re doing things different than we were five years ago in aesthetics and then non -aesthetics. So I think, you know, at the end of the day, we do the best that we can. We continue to learn and grow and we try to bring others up with us. But yeah, I think that’s a great place to start for you and I, and especially you.
Marisa Stringer
Yeah. Well, I appreciate it, but no, I agree. think that it starts with awareness and you’re right, we all should uplift each other. It doesn’t matter how much experience you have. And I tell my trainees when I’m in trainings, you you may have been ejected two years, but I promise you when I walk out of here, I’m going to learn something from you because you’re going to do things differently than I do that I’m going to say, man, that’s a good technique, you know, and because I’m constantly changing my technique probably once or twice a year based on new things, based on my colleagues. So again, it doesn’t matter if you have two years or five years or 10 years or 20 years.
we’re constantly learning from each other. We constantly should uplift each other for sure. So I think bringing this awareness and, you know, knowing that this is a problem, you know, not just for patients, but injectors too, because we see injectors that are a little bit like, oh, let’s lay off this. And so I think that this is a good start to, you know, bringing this awareness out and then we’re just going to do our best. We’re going to hope that we can change, make changes in any little bit
that we can in any little way.
Leslie Beltowski
Yeah, just moving that needle just a little is going to, you know, it’s the butterfly. like, like, it’s going to help. So I’m here for it, girl. I’m here for it. And please tell me if I ever look crazy. Shoot me that DM. Hey, I don’t want to say this.
Marisa Stringer
Yeah. Yay! Well, I’m excited. No, I will. Hey bestie, you know I love you, but yeah. Please, same. me that. I better get a text message from you, for sure. I know, for sure. But, yes. Pinky promise. So, um, I think, is there anything you want to add to this before you, um, before we wrap up?
Leslie Beltowski
But…
Leslie Beltowski
Pinky promise.
Leslie Beltowski
Let me see I did take notes. I haven’t looked at them, but I feel like we hit everything organically one of the things that I did underline as far as like the beauty standards is like enhanced is enhanced the new normal and That really stuck out that to me out that really stuck out to me because I feel like in a lot of senses it is a lot of senses it is and I think if we can just get back to that more regenerative, restorative, just youthful, let’s get your skin improved, let’s just improve that little bit of volume that you’ve lost. If we can move towards that, I think that’s going to be huge. So I want normal to be normal, basically.
Marisa Stringer
Yeah, and you know, that’s a good point. You’re right. You know, we have so many things out now. Like you said, 10 years ago, five years ago, such new stuff is out all of the time. And it’s almost getting more flamboyant. You know, like if you’ll see people on IG or, you know, doing all these crazy procedures that I’m like, I don’t even know what the goal is. And you’ve seen it too, just a really off the wall stuff. It’s kind of like this is enhancement. I think, like I said, I go back to social media. mean, social media can be our best friend, but it can be our worst enemy. And I agree. think we need to focus on, you know, bringing back your normal you, your natural you. And I even tell patients this. When I’m filling a patient or when we’re having that consultation, I’ll tell them, like, look, my goal for you is to make you look like you did five, 10 years ago. You’re not going to look not like you. You’re going to look like yourself still, but you’re going to look like yourself a few years back. And so not enhanced, not bigger cheeks, not lips. Now obviously if they want that, that’s a different story, but for patients that come in that are new to this and they’re afraid and they’re seeing things that are kind of scaring them, this is that conversation to have is to let them know we’re not I’m not here for that. I’m here to restore what you have. Absolutely.
Leslie Beltowski
Yeah, and I think that like our biggest takeaways are your patients okay? Treat that patient first and encourage, know, try to look beyond the surface of the skin. Like what is going on with that patient? Are they truly loving themselves? You know, because if they’re, you know, they’re searching in all the wrong places, they’re not going to feel better, you know.
Marisa Stringer
Yeah, and you know, this might be another podcast for you and I because this would be a way to find out what we can do, some modalities or different options to help them love themselves. Not just on a physical aesthetic level, but more on a emotional spiritual level. So there’s got to be ways to do that, you know? So we should do some digging and get back on. Yes, absolutely.
Leslie Beltowski
Yeah, absolutely. Part two. But that, I mean, that’s like the million dollar question. Like, how do you feel comfortable in your own skin? How do you focus on your inner beauty? And it’s hard in this day and age. I mean, I’ve struggled with it, I feel like my entire life. So I think, yeah, we need to dive into that rabbit hole. it takes a lot of time, it takes a big commitment to look within and heal and have the awareness and the mindfulness to improve those things and to accept yourself for who you are.
Signe Monson
Well, awesome guys. So thank you both so much. Very interesting was listening backstage and so much valuable insight that you two have. I loved listening to you play off each other with your different experiences with patients on this possibly contentious, right? And growing topic. I want to say Leslie, my favorite part was when you said, and I got this big smile when you said, you know what? We are providers first. And that I love that. And that is true. And that the first thing that you need to be thinking of, the very first thing is, that what is the best thing for this patient? They are still a patient. Even if it’s aesthetics, they are your patient. And that I love that. And I’m wondering, I know you guys kind of went over some other takeaways, but do either of you have any final parting words of wisdom or any other important takeaways that you want to bring up to our listeners before we end this?
Marisa Stringer
I mean, I think, again, the takeaway is going to be…as the injector to recognize what is coming in, you know, and how to handle that. You know, that’s where we should dive deeper and be more aware of what we’re looking at. And then being that person, that advocate for that patient to be able to say, you know, it’s too much. It’s not, we can’t do this. Let’s see what’s really going on. I think that that is going to require more awareness and having that conversation, also on the injectors part to be more assertive and be and you have to be comfortable to have that conversation.
Leslie Beltowski
Yeah, I agree with that. And I think it’s like we talked about, it’s always an, it’s an evolution, but just staying true to your core values, treating the patient, don’t worry about your sales, don’t worry about a bad review, just treat the patient appropriately. And they will thank you for it. A lot of them will thank you for it. And they’re like, Oh my gosh, no one’s ever told me, told me no, or no one’s ever told me that before. And trust is literally the currency of our industry. So we have to have that trust. So a lot of patients will think you’re like, oh my gosh, I didn’t know that. Some people might get pissed. Some people might write that bad review, but it’s not worth doing something that’s inappropriate and you not sleeping at night.
Marisa Stringer
I agree. think at the end of the day, you have to stay true to yourself. And I think that that is going to come with experience, you know, as an injector. just, you know, there’s you just, it just comes with experience. And I think that it will come. It’s, I’m hoping that newer injectors will kind of take this and use that to learn to, to handle these tough situations too.
Signe Monson
Great. Awesome. Well, thank you both again. This was this was great. And I would love let’s schedule a part two because there is so much to unpack and digest in this. I know you just, you know, hit that tip of that iceberg. So that would be great if we can do another one. So thank you. Yeah. And thank you, listeners. Thanks for joining us on Core Matters and Health Care. And we will see you soon.
