Who are the gatekeepers?
There are none. As I said in my prior blog, the cosmetic surgery laser and technology industry is skipping doctors and going straight to you, the consumer. Many have gotten FDA approval via the 510K route (see my blog on that to understand better.) What works? What claims are real? Is the whole world a big blob of marketing? Where is the science?
Tons of new cosmetic surgery lasers and products flood the market. They have 24 months to recoup their earnings. They have 24 months to be the hot new plastic surgery darling on the market. The new laser and ultrasound companies do try to meet us doctors. They do have educational meetings. They do come to our offices. But they flood the market well before. Their online and print ad and commercial media campaign starts well before they do a mass marketing to us doctors.
Example: Laser liposuction. I, and some of my colleagues, do a lot of liposuction. When the smart new laser liposuction companies came out, they did not come to us first. I saw articles in People magazine well before anyone had tried to inform me of the new technology and get me to buy the laser. I read an article by one doctor who had been a researcher for the machine. “So and so fancy actress had the NEW laser liposuction.” “No downtime! No anesthesia!”
When I went to their informational course, I do think it offers some benefits, but no more than ultrasonic liposuction which we were already doing. I do think they are misleading. The instructors for the course admitted for larger areas (which is what most of us who are not supermodels need) they use ultrasonic liposuction first and then used the laser as a finishing tool at the end. It is a smaller caliber, which may increase irregularity, and definitely increases OR time. So my other colleagues and I, who have published and written chapters on liposuction, did not buy the machine. It offered no benefit.
The issue? The marketers are winning. They appealed to non plastic surgeons. They had great ad and media campaigns. I have patients who call specifically wanting “XX lipo.” Even when I explain what the pros and cons are, they have a deaf ear. LASER. NEW. They have bought into the media campaign. They will go to a family practice doctor who has no surgical training and have the new great liposuction done instead of me, a board certified plastic surgeon with extensive liposuction experience and a published chapter in a textbook on liposuction. Egads. They will seek me out when they don’t get the desired result or have a complication. At that point, it may be too late for me to help.
So BEWARE. Find a doctor who will be your gatekeeper, who will evaluate the new plastic surgery products and instead of trying to just sell you something new, will only sell you things they think really work.
Beware of the new trend, which focuses on hype and not science:
- Comapanies and products appeal direct to consumers (magazines, online, TV )
- FDA doesn’t check efficacy claims as much as safety
- Patients drive demand (so doctors offering it may not be because they believe in it, but because patients are asking for it)
- Don’t look at science based medicine (ask to see the scientific studies which show it does what it says it does.)