Achieving Natural Looking Results with HA Filler Treatments

Patient education is key when addressing patient goals and concerns with HA filler treatments. And patient education doesn't start when they're in your practice. Every interaction is an opportunity to educate your patients on the excellence of your outcomes, the thoroughness of your training and the steadfast commitment your practice has to patient safety. This includes social media posts, email newsletter sends, website visits all the way through to patient consultations and post-treatment follow-up communication.

New Beauty's State of Aesthetics Summer 2025 Report found the 55% of patients considered it important to know the science behind the treatments they received, and 56% of patients cited "natural looking results" as the thing they liked best about their last filler treatment.

"We're educators, so we really go through the data with our patients."

Lisa Espinoza, MD

1. 75%: Board certification
2. 62%: Education and training of the provider
3. 60%: Reviews
4. 51%: Before and after photographs

When highlighting your practice, providers and procedures it's essential to also highlight the licensure of your team and the training they've undertaken. Read what a panel of industry experts considers to be adequate training standards for safe med spa practitioners.

Though it may drive online engagement to share negative images from other practices, the most important thing when educating patients is to establish the quality of your own work and to credential your providers. Indeed, engaging with content online that highlights negative outcomes can have a self-reinforcing effect on patients as the algorithms will continue to feed them similar content. This can solidify the idea that med spas are not safe and that the extreme outcomes from these treatments are actually the norm.

Common misconceptions about HA Fillers*:

• Myth: Dermal fillers will make me look like a different person.
  Fact: HA injectables are a non-surgical procedure that will temporarily help restore and refresh a patient's look with minimal downtime.
• Myth: Dermal fillers move under the skin after being injected.
  Fact: While all fillers have the potential to migrate, the chances of this happening are rare.
• Myth: HA is an unnatural substance.
  Fact: HA is is natural found in the body, most commonly in the skin, and helps the skin retain its natural moisture and softness.
• Myth: It takes time to see results from filler treatments.
  Fact: You can see results almost immediately. They may last 6 months to two years with optimal treatment, depending on the product and area injected.
• Myth: Dermal fillers are all the same.
  Fact: There are many kinds of dermal fillers with different levels of flexibility/firmness. Trained providers understand the different between these products and will select the best one to treat the correct area to receive the desired result.
• Myth: HA injectables are permanent.
  Fact: HA fillers can be dissolved and removed if a rare side effect occurs.

Oftentimes your best opportunity to educate your patients will come during the initial consultation/good faith exam, especially given that 82% of patients understand the importance of considering the face as a whole in order to achieve their desired results*. Explaining the mechanics of filler relating to different areas of the face can be your way into building full treatment plans for patients to make sure their outcomes match the rejuvenated, natural look they're going for.

For more information on getting the most out of your patient consultations view these webinars, free for AmSpa Plus members:

• The Annual Rejuvenation Consultation with David A Lickstein, MD, FACS; Lisa Lickstein; Christina Naugle, PA-C; and Amy Anderson
• The Journey to Patient Satisfaction with Katie Martin, PA-C
• The Anatomy of a Wellness Consultation with Renée E. Topala, APRN, AGACNP-BC
• How to Perform a Proper Consultation for All Cultures and Ethnicities with Audra Ford, MD
• Not a member yet? Join today!

Read more on the legal requirements for good faith exams here.

Learn more about legally compliant patient consultations (as well as several hours of training on how to run a legal and sustainable med spa practice) as part of the Virtual Boot Camp.

There's a desire for more subtle, natural results. Patients want it and I think the majority of providers are doing it."

Terrence Keaney, MD

• 78%: Consumers who strongly agree that people today want a more natural look*.
• 91%: Gen-Z and younger millennials who believe "natural looking results" is an very important factor for medical aesthetic treatments*.
• 82%: Patients who have had a consultation for dermal fillers and stated they were interested in being treated in more than one area*.
• 90%: Patients who indicated they were satisfied with the outcome of their dermal filler treatment, with natural looking results as the #1 satisfaction point*.
• 70%: Patients who say they are more likely to book if the consultation is based around facial balancing+.
• 56%: Patients who expressed that the thing they liked most about their most recent filler treatment was a natural look+.
• 51%: Patients saying that the thing that would make them more confident about getting a filler treatment is avoiding an unnatural look+.

According to AmSpa's 2024 State of the Industry Report 90% of medical spa practices offer filler treatments. As one of the foundational procedures in medical aesthetics, it's increasingly important to understand how to get the most out of HA filler products to provide the best, most natural outcomes for your patients.

HA injectable filler-aware consumers say they have most often heard that HA injectables are "generally safe when administered by a professional."

The Aesthetics Evolution: The Hyaluronic Acid Injectable Fillers Report

• 75%: Patients who prioritize board certification when selecting a provider+.
• 62%: Patients who prioritize education and training when selecting a provider+.

Patient safety is the backbone of any responsible and successful medical aesthetic practice. Medical spa treatments may lean into the glitz, glamour and comfort of the beauty and spa industry, but the treatments are medical procedures best performed by trained clinicians. Taking shortcuts in medical training or legal compliance/SOPs can lead to disastrous outcomes for patients. These adverse cases are terrible in themselves when individual patients are injured or worse, however when these cases are highlighted in the news they can affect whether patients feel safe going to trained, responsible providers as well. This can also result in over-regulation, as we saw earlier this year in Texas, regarding the tragic IV therapy death of Jenifer Cleveland.

Further reading from industry experts on safety in medical spa practices:

• What to Look For in a Safe Med Spa Visit
• Why NPs are Safe, Trusted Med Spa Professionals
• Physician Assistants in Med Spas: Qualified, Trusted, Safe Providers
• Injectables Safety: What Patients Should Know About Dermal Filler and Neurotoxin
• How Safe Med Spas Manage Complications

Cost-effectiveness and value are often looked at as financial discussions, but oftentimes displaying value can be as simple as making sure your patient achieves the best results possible. Whether through the use of long-term treatment plans, combination therapies or medical-grade skin care, the first place your patient will weigh whether your services are "worth it" is their own mirror. Safe, natural outcomes are your first tools at demonstrating value to your patients.

Some patients, however, can see tremendous benefit in financing options for their medical aesthetic care. In a recent survey of AmSpa members^, 80% of surveyed practices offered some kind of patient financing. Of those practices, 72% believe that providing financing options gives them a competitive advantage, with 71% believing that offering financing options was important to the success and growth of their practice. The most common transaction sizes that utilized financing options were from $1,000 - $2,500.

The top benefits AmSpa members saw when offering patient financing include:

1. 27%: Higher average transaction value.
2. 23%: Faster patient decision making.
3. 22%: Increased treatment volume.