Before a cosmetic consultation — what to ask, and when to walk out

A consultation room is badly asymmetric in information. They do this daily; you may do it once. Writing the questions down beforehand is the cheapest way to close that gap.

Last updated 2026-09-21

Why prepare at all

Most consultations are short, and many include an offer that expires that day. Under those conditions people decide on feeling rather than information — not through any failure of theirs, but because the situation is built that way.

A written list does two things. You do not forget the important question, and it makes asking for time to think a normal thing to do.

What follows are questions to put to a qualified practitioner. It is not medical advice and takes no position on whether any procedure is a good idea.

About the procedure

What is causing the thing I am concerned about — structure, skin, lost volume, muscle? The answer decides which procedures are even relevant.
If I do nothing at all, what does this look like in a few years?
Is there a less invasive option, and why are you not recommending it?
How long does the result last, and when it wears off do I return to how I was or to something else?
If I am unhappy, can it be corrected, by what means, and at what cost?
What are the common side effects, and what are the rare serious ones?
How many days of genuine downtime — days I could not work?

About the person doing it

Who performs this, and what are their qualifications? May I see the documentation?
Roughly how many cases like mine has that person done?
What is in place here if a complication happens during the procedure?
Who do I contact if something goes wrong at night or on a holiday?
May I see before-and-after photographs of patients who started out similar to me?

One caution on before-and-after photographs: images shot under different light, at different angles, with different make-up are not comparable. Check whether the two were taken under the same conditions.

About money and paperwork

What does the quoted price include — follow-up visits, medication, corrections?
What could add cost later?
May I take the consent form home to read first?
What product will be used, which version, and is it properly registered? May I see the box opened?

When to walk out

Pressure to decide today — a discount expiring within the day is a sales instrument, not clinical information.
A guaranteed result — bodies respond differently. A guarantee is a claim nobody can actually make.
Risk questions waved away — someone who does this daily can describe side effects in detail. Avoiding the question means something.
A longer list than you came with — arriving with one concern and leaving with five proposals is worth noticing.
Paperwork you are not allowed to take home.
No straight answer about who will perform it.

Leaving to think costs nothing. A good clinic will not mind, and anywhere that makes asking for time feel like a transgression has answered a question of its own.

What to bring

Photographs of yourself in ordinary light, without make-up, front and side, to point at what concerns you. A list of medications and supplements you take. Any previous procedures. And the questions above.

If you already have a facial proportion analysis, bring it — but as a list of things to discuss, not as a conclusion. Measurements from a photograph carry limits, and a doctor should be the one telling you which parts apply to you and which do not.

Build a question list from your own face