Walk in with the right questions.
Choose the kind of treatment you are considering and the checklist rebuilds around it: what to verify before you book, what has to happen at the consultation, and the red flags that mean you leave. Your ticks stay in this browser, the ring counts how far you have got, and the list copies out as plain text for your phone.
Ask the questions that decide whether to book.
Every treatment on this list is a medical procedure, and the rules on who may hold the needle differ from one country to the next. Choose what you are considering: the checklist rebuilds around it, your ticks stay in this browser, and the ring counts how much of it you can answer.
What are you considering?
Injectables
0 of 22points checked
Nothing ticked yet. Take the list into the consultation and tick a point only once you have the answer in front of you.
nothing ticked yet
Still open
Nothing left open. Keep the list for the day itself: the answers are worth hearing twice.
How it works.
- Choose the kind of treatment you are considering: the checklist rebuilds around it.
- Tick a point only once you have the answer. The ring, the counts and the card move with you.
- Copy the list to your phone, take it into the consultation, and read the open points before you agree a date.
Why the checking falls to you
Every treatment on this list is a medical procedure. Hyaluronic acid filler can block a blood vessel: published series put that at roughly 0.001 to 0.05 percent of injections, somewhere between 1 in 100,000 and 1 in 2,000, so it is rare and it is counted in hours once it happens. Botulinum toxin can reach the wrong muscle and leave an eyelid sitting low for 4 to 12 weeks. Lasers burn and can leave pigment change that outlasts the hair. Peels scar when they go deeper than planned. In many countries the title above the door is not protected, and the clinic name says nothing about the training behind it, so the checking falls to you. A good practitioner welcomes these questions, because they are the ones asked of every clinic worth working in. The practitioner guide goes through the qualifications in detail.
Register, prescription-only, hyaluronidase
A professional register is the public list your national regulator keeps of the people it licenses, with a separate register for doctors, dentists, nurses and midwives. It is free to search and it shows whether a licence carries conditions. A prescription-only medicine may be supplied only after a prescriber has assessed you in person, and botulinum toxin is prescription-only in most European countries, so the prescriber meets you rather than signing a list of names at a distance. Hyaluronidase is the enzyme that dissolves hyaluronic acid filler, and it is the emergency treatment when filler blocks a vessel. Ask whether it is on the premises and who is trained to use it. The filler guide covers reversal, and the toxin guide covers onset and duration.
Why 24 hours, and what this tool is not
A consultation and a treatment on the same day removes the free step: the one where you read the consent form at your own table. Ask for at least 24 hours between the two, and use them to look up the register entry, to read what the product is licensed for, and to notice which questions were answered with a number and which with a mood. For botulinum toxin, book the review at about 14 days, when the full effect is in. For laser, expect a test patch 24 to 48 hours before the first session, set for your phototype from I to VI, as the laser guide explains. This tool is a checklist, not a verification: it cannot look anyone up, it does not know the rules where you live, and it does not tell you whether a treatment suits you.
Frequently asked.
Is botulinum toxin really a prescription-only medicine?
In most European countries, yes: it may be supplied only after a prescriber has assessed the person being treated. That is why the checklist asks whether the prescriber has seen you in person rather than signed a list of names at a distance. Who may then inject it differs from country to country.
What is hyaluronidase, and why ask whether it is stocked?
It is an enzyme that dissolves hyaluronic acid filler, and it is the emergency treatment when filler blocks a blood vessel. A clinic that injects hyaluronic acid filler without it on the premises cannot treat the complication it is most likely to cause, and the window for treating one is counted in hours.
How do I find my national professional register?
Search for the regulator of that profession in your country, since doctors, dentists, nurses and midwives are licensed separately, and most regulators publish a free search by name. Ask the practitioner which register they are on and under which name, then look it up yourself.
Is a cooling-off period of 24 hours a legal rule?
That differs by country, and in many places it sits in professional guidance rather than in law. Ask for it either way: 24 hours is the time you need to read the consent form, look up the register entry and notice what was not answered.
What if the practitioner is irritated by these questions?
That is an answer in itself. Somebody who treats this list as an insult has shown you how a complication call at the weekend would go.
What does the tool store?
Only your ticks and the kind of treatment you chose, in the local storage of this browser under one key. Nothing is sent anywhere, and clearing site data removes it.
Guides behind this tool
Aesthetics
How to choose an aesthetic practitioner: the checklist
Aesthetics
Hyaluronic acid fillers: risks, red flags and reversal
Aesthetics
Botulinum toxin injections: onset, duration and risks
Aesthetics
Laser hair removal: sessions, skin types and resultsMore tools
The Consultation Checklist is a list of questions and checks, not a verification of anyone. It cannot look up a register, it does not know the rules where you live, and it does not diagnose or recommend a treatment. This page is for general information and does not replace advice from a dermatologist, physician or qualified practitioner.