There’s a trend popping up right now that’s making my stomach turn. The desire for convenience, a good deal, and an Instagrammable experience have undermined the significance of patient safety and the nuance of medical practice, to create “drive-thru” Botox bars — and it’s appalling.
The reality is that injectable cosmetic procedures, including Botox and fillers, require a combination of anatomical mastery, clinical expertise, and artistic perspective. Nobody would accept a cookie cutter approach to open heart surgery, and the same expectations should be placed on non-invasive aesthetic treatments.
Of course there’s no denying that business is part of the equation, but I strongly believe that business goals are tertiary to patient safety and evidence-based, scientific practices. These pop-up beauty bars are the absolute antithesis of everything I believe in — they defy patient-centred care, a holistic approach, and medical risk to turn a highly personal treatment into a purely transactional experience.
We’ve come a long way from the unnatural results of early injectable treatments, but a trend like this one is only going to take us backwards. I genuinely hope that we see a backlash that focuses on what’s most important: holistic, customized care that emphasizes safety and natural outcomes.