Paid Injectable Courses - Worth It or Total Waste of $$? (Ep. 48)

A couple of times a month, we have somebody who sends in an application or comes by the office and drops off an application to be an injector and to get into the field of aesthetics. And one of the things that I've noticed in a lot of those resumes that people send in, especially for people who haven't been in aesthetics before and are looking to get into aesthetics, is that And they put on their resume that they've gone to shadow an injector or take an injectable course.

It's usually by an institute of some sort, and that is a kind of feather in their cap. Something that, proves their worth as a new aesthetic injector. And I wanted to talk a little bit about this kind of injectable course phenomena, because it seems like every other injector is opening up their own training center to educate the next generation of injectors.

And talk a little bit about why these things are springing up on every street corner, it seems like, and what the benefit is, and more importantly, what the benefit isn't. Because,

These injectable institutes, institutes in air quotes, are something that you need to be careful, especially if you're not in the field of aesthetics already.

So first, who benefits, other than the people who own the injectable training centers, who benefits from these courses? There are two types of people that, take these courses. And the majority of them are in this kind of at the far left of the learning curve. So right at the very beginning, they have either very, very little experience or no experience in injectables, and want to dip their toe into the injectable market.

And these are the kinds of people who I think do not benefit from these injectable courses at all. For a couple of reasons. One is that. The training is, is variable. You don't know what you're getting when you, you go to these courses. And from an employer's standpoint, and this is just me speaking personally, I don't put a lot of stock in that.

You went down the street to, to Sally or Billy, the local injector who's opened up a training center that they've trained you well, um, that you are, Capable, you are somebody who I am going to trust with injecting me or injecting my patients. Because ultimately, you know, as a, as a medical director, it's my license on the line.

And so I'm going to want to make sure that you're trained the way in, in safety and technique the way that I want you to be trained because that's my license. That's one aspect of it. The other aspect of it is a more practical aspect, is that you go to an injectable course for a day or two, you have no experience in the field, and then you go out hunting for a job, it may be weeks or months before you actually start seeing patients and treating patients, at which point you've had, other than those, you know, couple of hours of training, you have No experience.

You've probably forgotten everything that you paid a couple thousand dollars to learn. So, I don't recommend the novice injector just starting out or just trying to get into aesthetics to take these courses. Now, on the other hand, you've got experienced injectors who have been doing it for a while, who are already working in aesthetics, who may want to go and learn a new technique, brush up on things that they have taught, but haven't used as much. And in those cases, these injectable courses are very good. A lot of us that are doing this all the time will go and train with somebody else for a day or take a course to augment our skills.

to offer better results to our patients. And so I think that's that is totally legitimate. And I encourage people, you know, medicine is a lifelong learning process, aesthetics included.

And so for those people who are already established, who are on the right hand side of the experience curve or in the middle to the right hand side of the experience curve, you know, these injectable courses are or can be. be very beneficial?

So the next question is then how do you get started in aesthetics if you're not already in the field? And the best way to do this is kind of the boring, tried and true way is to get a job in aesthetics, not injecting and learn the field. So if you're a nurse and you want to transition from emergency room or clinic.

nursing over to aesthetics, find a job in the spa, find a job in a plastic surgery dermatology office where they're doing this stuff on a daily basis and be the clinic nurse, learn the process, learn how to talk to the patients and deal with the aesthetic patients and assist in those procedures and let the person who is employing you know that you want to transition into injectables.

Those opportunities will start to come. You'll learn how to prepare the toxin. You'll learn how to prep a patient for filler and the pre and post care instructions. And then gradually we'll start to ease your way into injectables. And that's how a lot of the injectors that I've worked with over time have gotten into that field.

And so if you want to start, In aesthetics, get into aesthetics, and then, and kind of work your way up that ladder.

While we're talking about being in aesthetics, you say, well what about these training courses when, you know, if I'm there and I want to learn how to inject? A lot of times, what you don't know when you're not in aesthetics already, is that the companies that make the injectables that you're going to use, will pay to train you.

You don't have to pay somebody else to get training. The companies will pay to have you trained because they want you to use their products and use their products safely. And that goes for all of the injectable manufacturers. And so, waiting until you're there, when you're already doing it, the companies will pay to improve your education.

I'm, have trained for a number of injectable companies and it is always people, you know, they're always looking to improve the people who are using their products, to improve their skills, to improve their, ability to diagnose and treat aesthetic issues. And so I would say don't pay for a course when you're outside of the field trying to get in.

Wait until you're there and then those courses kind of come to you.

So to kind of wrap this up, are there benefits to injectable courses? Sure there are. Are the injectable courses something that you should be spending your hard earned money on in an attempt to get into the field of aesthetics? In my opinion, I wouldn't recommend that. I would wait to get in until you're in the field of aesthetics, and then let the manufacturers pay to train you.

And if you're looking for specialty training, you find somebody who uses a technique that you like, or that you want to go work with somebody who is a very well known and established injector to learn their techniques, then... By all means, go and do that, but save your money for these injectable courses until you're in the field, have gotten some experience, and then you can make a more educated decision of how you want to pursue that additional training.

aS always, if you've got any questions, shoot me a DM, shoot me an email. Thanks for listening and we'll see you on the next show.