The ConsultationBefore anything is decided
Seen personally by Dr Hanson at 98 Harley Street.
What happensA consultation, in five parts.
i
We talk before I look
What has already been done, when, and with what. Weight change, sleep, illness, medication. What has changed recently as opposed to gradually. A surprising amount of what people describe as ageing turns out to have a date attached to it.
ii
A full facial assessment, in natural light
At rest and in movement, because those are two different assessments and a smile hides most of what matters. Photographs are taken under standard conditions. They are clinical records, stored securely, and used for nothing else without your written consent.
iii
A frank account of what is causing what
Including the parts that treatment cannot improve, and the parts that are not worth treating. If what you have described to me is caused by something other than the feature you came in pointing at, this is where you will hear it.
iv
Options, risks and alternatives
What could be done, in what order, over what period, and what each stage would and would not achieve. Risks and recovery discussed properly, before any consent form appears. Alternatives include doing nothing, and referral elsewhere where that is the better answer.
v
A written summary, and no decision
You leave with the plan in writing. There is no pressure to book on the day and no offer that expires. If it is right in a fortnight, it was right today.
Why not on the dayAlmost nothing here is urgent.
I ask most patients not to decide at the first appointment. Not as a technique, and not because I am hesitant about the plan.
A decision made in a consulting room, with a doctor sitting opposite and an afternoon already given up to it, is made under a pressure that has nothing to do with your face. Sitting with the plan for a fortnight removes that pressure entirely, and the decision you make afterwards is a better one.
There is one honest exception: where correction of previous treatment is needed, it is sometimes sensible to begin dissolving sooner rather than later. Even then, the rebuilding is not decided on the same day.
Fees
The consultation fee -£150
The fee is charged for the assessment itself, not as a deposit against treatment, because the assessment is the part with the value in it. A consultation that concludes with no treatment is a successful consultation.
It is redeemable in full against treatment booked within 3 months. It is not refundable.
Treatment fees are quoted individually in your written plan, once there is a plan to quote for. I do not publish a price list, because prices attached to a list of treatments you may not need could be misleading.
QuestionsAbout the consultation
Will I be treated on the day?
Usually not, and that is deliberate. Nothing is treated at a first appointment unless it is clearly right to do so. Most patients leave with a written plan and book treatment separately once they have had time to consider it.
Is the fee refundable?
No. It is redeemable in full against treatment booked within [period], but it is not refunded, because it pays for the assessment rather than reserving a treatment. The assessment has value whether or not it results in treatment — and in a meaningful number of cases the conclusion is that no treatment is needed.
Why are prices not published?
Because a price beside a treatment name invites you to choose the treatment before anyone has looked at your face. Fees are quoted individually in your written plan, and you are free to take that plan away and decide, or not.
Can we do this by video call?
Where a video call is offered it is a conversation rather than an assessment. It can answer questions and establish whether an appointment is worth your time. No plan is agreed and no treatment arranged without an in-person examination in daylight.
What if you tell me I should not be treated?
Then that is the outcome of the consultation, and you will be told why. It happens with some regularity — most often where a face is still changing, where surgery is the more honest answer, or where the thing being described is not a facial problem at all. You will not be sold something else instead.
I have had treatment elsewhere that I am unhappy with.
Say so when you book, so that longer can be set aside. Bring what detail you have. A significant part of my practice is correction, it is a common reason for coming here, and it is not a conversation anyone needs to be embarrassed about.
What happens to my photographs and medical details?
They are held as clinical records, stored securely, and used for your care. They are not used in marketing, on social media or in any published material without your specific written consent for that use, which you can withdraw. Details are in the privacy policy.