The questions worth asking first.
Most people book a cosmetic appointment without knowing what to ask, and the industry has not made it easy. This page collects the questions we get asked in the room, and a few nobody asks but should — what a consultation actually involves, why prices are so hard to find, and how to tell whether a clinic is being straight with you.
The things people ring up to ask.
Answered here rather than on the phone, because they are the same four questions every time and you should be able to find them without calling.
- What does a first appointment cost?
- $150, for ninety minutes with a registered nurse. There is no free version, and no discounted one. You leave holding a written plan whether or not you book anything else.
- Do I have to book a treatment?
- No. Some consultations end with a recommendation to change nothing yet, or to spend the money on skincare rather than a treatment. That is a legitimate outcome and it happens.
- Can I book a facial without a consultation?
- Yes. Facials, microdermabrasion and recovery sessions can be booked directly. Anything where a clinical judgement is involved — peels, needling, IV therapy, a skin lesion — starts with an assessment.
- Why can I see your prices when most clinics hide theirs?
- Because a price you have to ring for is a price that changes depending on who is asking. Every price is on one page, in full, and it is the same for everyone.
Nothing on this site obliges you to buy or book anything.
Nine things worth knowing beforehand.
Written by the clinic, about how this industry actually works. Some of it is unflattering to us as well.
The ninety minutes, step by step, including the parts people find uncomfortable.
A treatment without an assessment is a guessWhy a menu is the wrong place to start, however good the treatment on it.
Why we ask what we askSleep, medication, stress, cycle. The questions that sound unrelated and are not.
Why won't clinics tell you the price?The commercial reason behind "prices on enquiry", stated plainly.
Every price, publishedWhat it costs us to work this way, and why we do it anyway.
Why we can't quote you for something we haven't seenThe one thing a published price list still cannot tell you.
Why can't you read reviews about treatments?There is a law behind the silence, and it is not the one most people assume.
Nobody holds the ten-year pictureWhat gets lost when you move between clinics, and what to keep yourself.
What an AI can't tell you about your skinWhere the general advice stops being useful, and why.
When you have read enough.
There is a point where more reading stops helping, because the next answer depends on your skin rather than on skin in general.