I’m going back on my soap box because….I just can’t take it anymore!  In my 16 years of practice as a Beverly Hills Plastic & Cosmetic Surgeon, I have heard and seen many things but lately I’m increasing disturbed by what I am seeing.  People are falling prey to fake treatments and bogus beauty products.  Case in point…the woman who let her hairdresser give her a shot….a shot….of Botox it is assumed to remove some lines and wrinkles from her face.  Was she persuaded to let the hairstylist practice medicine without a license…without any training whatsoever…for a cheaper price?  Have we become a society blinded by the true value of things by what I call the “Walmart Mentality?”  Get whatever you want at the lowest possible price because it’s all the same anyway.  Really?  Do you really think this is possible when it comes to personalized services like those performed by doctors or Plastic & Cosmetic Surgeons?  Do you think that all surgeons have the exact same eye, same gift, same training, same experience….not to mention temperament and motivation?  Come on….do you really believe that or is it simply easier and more convenient to hope that it works that way?  Well I am here to tell you that it doesn’t work that way at all!  Not Once!  Not ever!  Worse, if you use those assumptions, like this woman in Monterey, you may end up with a  serious problem.

 Doctors and surgeons are not all the same.  We don’t do surgeries or procedures the same…hence the term practicing the “art of medicine”.  So you can’t and shouldn’t assume that you’ll get the same Botox treatment from every doctor or surgeon and to assume that you’ll get any type of real or safe treatment from an untrained layperson is JUST PLAIN CRAZY!  The reality is that poor woman died from her hairstylist injecting her with a bogus brand of Botox.  This is just tragic and it shouldn’t have ever happened in the first place.  Be smart, be safe, be educated about what you let people do to you….they must be trained, experienced and competent.  Pay the going rate for your treatment or surgery.  Don’t skimp….it’s better to do without until you can afford the best.  Getting second best, at a discount price, is rarely a bargain.