Patient Guide
10 Questions to Ask Before Your First Injectable
You are about to let someone inject a prescription drug into your face. Acting like a patient — not a customer — starts with ten questions.
Injectables are medical procedures. Botox and fillers are prescription products, the needle carries real (if small) risk, and the difference between a great result and a lumpy, frozen, or vascular-occlusion disaster is the person holding the syringe. The good news: you can vet that person with ten questions before you ever sit in the chair. The right clinic answers all ten without flinching.
The ten questions
- 1
Who is actually injecting me — and what is their license? You want an MD, DO, NP, PA, or RN operating within their state scope. "An aesthetician" is not an answer; aestheticians cannot legally inject in most states.
- 2
Is there a supervising physician, and are they on-site or reachable today? Most states require physician oversight of injectable practice. "He signs off remotely from another state" is a red flag.
- 3
What product are you using, and what is the lot/expiration? Real product, in date, drawn in front of you. Counterfeit and grey-market toxin is a documented problem; you are entitled to see the vial.
- 4
How many units / how many syringes, and what is the per-unit or per-syringe price? Refusing to quote a dose is refusing to be compared.
- 5
What's your plan if I don't like the result — or if something goes wrong? For filler specifically: do you stock hyaluronidase on-site to dissolve it in an emergency?
- 6
Have you managed a vascular occlusion before? Occlusion (filler blocking a blood vessel) is the rare-but-serious filler complication. You want someone who knows the symptoms and the protocol cold.
- 7
Can I see before/after photos of YOUR work on someone with my features? Not stock photos. Not the manufacturer's gallery. Their hands, their patients.
- 8
What should I avoid before and after? A real clinic has aftercare: no blood thinners/alcohol beforehand if avoidable, stay upright, no hard workouts or facials for ~24 hours.
- 9
Is this consult with the injector, or with a salesperson? You want clinical assessment from the person doing the work, not a closer working a quota.
- 10
What happens at follow-up, and is a two-week check included? Reputable injectors expect to see you at ~2 weeks to assess and tweak. Build it into the plan.
Answers that should end the appointment
- "We don't really do unit counts here." Translation: we ration product to a price and would rather you not check.
- "No need to meet the injector first." Translation: whoever is free will do it.
- "We don't keep hyaluronidase on hand." For a clinic doing hyaluronic-acid filler, that is not a minor gap; it is the missing fire extinguisher.
- "Our doctor is the medical director" — but the doctor is never named, never present, and oversees dozens of locations. That is a signature-for-rent arrangement, not supervision.
Reframe
You are not being difficult. You are doing the vetting the licensing board assumes someone is doing. A clinic that respects that is the clinic you want.
Bottom line
Confidence answering these questions correlates almost perfectly with competence. The injectors who give crisp, specific, slightly-impressed-you-asked answers are the ones with nothing to hide. The ones who get defensive are telling you exactly what you need to know.