Ep.13 - Results: Who's Fault Is It?

Most people blame their providers when they don’t see results, but what if the real key to success lies with the patient? In this eye-opening episode, Sam Bazile uncovers how both patients and providers often miss the mark—and what truly makes or breaks skin transformation. She shares a relatable story about a frustrated client who isn’t following her treatment plan—and reveals that the biggest obstacle to success might be patient accountability, not the provider’s skill. You’ll discover why thorough assessments are crucial before any injectables, how to align treatment plans with real-world budgets, and the importance of setting realistic expectations. Sam breaks down a proven framework for helping clients take ownership of their skin health while guiding them every step of the way. Her no-nonsense approach emphasizes that patients must be in the driver’s seat, actively participating in their own results, or risk wasting time and money. This episode is perfect for aestheticians, med spa owners, and skincare enthusiasts tired of unfulfilled promises. Learn why the most impactful change comes from empowering your clients—and how your role as a provider is to guide, not control. If you want to unlock better client outcomes, avoid common pitfalls, and foster genuine accountability, this is your must-listen episode. Don’t miss how embracing your role as a guide can turn struggling patients into loyal, results-driven clients—and transform the way you approach every consultation. Tune in now to elevate your skin care game and get results worth talking about.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:06

Hey y'all, welcome to the Skintrovert. I'm your host, Sam Bazil. Now, before I tell you what the topic is today, I want to tell you a story and I want to see what you think the answer is. So a friend of mine called me, and this is a friend that I have known many years. So keep in mind, I know her personality. I know who and what she is, okay? She calls me and she says, Hey, um, you know, I've been seeing this particular provider at this particular med spa, and I know the provider in the med spa well. Um, I've been going to her for years, and I don't know, Sam. I just feel like I'm I'm wasting my money because I just don't think I'm seeing the results that I should be seeing for the amount of money that I'm spending. So before I tell you anything else, what do you think? Just by what I've told you, whose fault is it that she's not seeing the results? Do you think it's the provider's fault or do you think it's the patient's fault? So hopefully you said the patient. Because this is the deal. I'm not saying it can never be the provider's fault. That's not true. There's lots of like providers that are inexperienced. There's also providers that are not really doing what they need to do to help, you know, provide the patient with the tools that they need, guide them. So I definitely get that, but I'm gonna tell you why, especially in this particular instance, it's the patient. So she's telling me the story and she's telling me how frustrated she is, and then she's like, What do you think about this place? Because I know you you visit there. What do you think about? I said, Can I be completely honest with you? And she said, Yes. I said, I think you need to not jump around, and I think you need to take responsibility on this one. And she's like, What do you mean? And I said, Girl, I know this provider and I know this provider well, and they have definitely guided you, they have definitely made recommendations. You just chose not to do it. And she was like, Oh, Sam. And I'm like, I mean, it's true. I was like, I know she recommended a full, you know, product protocol, and you chose to not do those products. I also know that she recommended two different in-office procedures, and you said I don't want to do either one of those because I don't like the price. And then you went somewhere else that had a special and just got a chemical peel instead. I was like, Yeah, so yes, she does your injectables, she does all these things. I said, but you you haven't really been a good patient. And I'm like, I love you, but that's what it is. I said, I really feel like before you, you know, start moving med spas and doing all this, I really think you need to go back to her, do another full assessment, let her know what your goals are, and whatever treatment plan she recommends, I think you need to commit to that treatment plan. And honestly, like that made me think there's a lot of you out there that maybe might be having the same concern, both patient and provider. Maybe as a patient, you're thinking, oh, I don't know if I'm seeing results. And then as a provider, maybe you're saying, like, gosh, I'm having these patients come back and complain that they're not seeing any improvement. So that's what I want to talk about today. When you're not seeing results, who are we blaming? Whose fault is it? And that's what we need to look at. So let me talk as a provider first. What is our responsibility? I mean, if someone's just wanting to like get some Botox or get some injectables, should we be doing full assessments and doing all these things or should we just be injecting them and sending them home? In my opinion, I think you need to make sure you are booking extra time to do full assessments because more than just injecting you and sending you home, I think patients have a certain expectation of what they would like to see from those treatments. And maybe they don't always align with what you know the treatment is gonna do. Like, for example, I had a patient that had come in, she was on like a hydroquinome protocol for an extended amount of time. Then we did a chemical peel and it it completely erased her melasma, but I messed up because she had come back months later and she was annoyed because the melasma was coming back, and this was her concern. I spent so much money with you, and now this pigment is coming back. And I realized like I didn't explain to her that there's no cure for pigment. All I can do is treat the signs and symptoms. So patients don't always understand that these treatments are not a magic wand. The symptom, whatever it is, is going to return. We we're not stopping the clock. We're we're not God. So we're just treating the signs and symptoms right here, right now. So if you don't want the symptoms to reoccur or come back really fast, then we need to make a plan of care. We need to talk about what we can do to kind of get you in that position of having the best skin that you can have. So, providers, I think you should be scheduling time. So when a patient comes in, you could do a thorough consult, even if they're just in for some number 11 Botox. Thorough consult, talk to them about their goals of treatment. What would you like to see happen with this treatment? And make sure that what you're about to do, whether it's Botox or even something else, make sure that that is going to be in line with what their goals are. And then I would provide them with a full treatment plan. So, like, for example, I'll give you a patient example. Let's say a patient comes to see me at Sam Medspa and or the Skin Trovert Med Spa, we'll do it that way. And she says, Okay, I don't like my texture. I don't like um the aging. I feel like I'm seeing my skin age a lot faster. So I want to treat the laxity in my skin and I want to treat the texture. So as a provider, I would tell her, Great, okay, so based on what you're you're saying your goals are for treatment, I'm gonna recommend different things. I'm gonna recommend two different in-office procedures that I think you would benefit from. And I'm also gonna recommend an at-home protocol because this is the thing. You have a job to do here. If you want to have the best skin and see the best results, you gotta help me out. You got to help a sister out. When you go home, you have a responsibility to continue to care for your skin. Like you wouldn't go to a dentist for cleaning once a week once a year and not go home and brush your teeth every morning and every night, right? Because if you did, your dentists, yes, they can do the cleaning, but your skin, I mean, your teeth would never really be as healthy as they could be because you are not doing your part here. Same with your skin. Yes, we can do things in office to kind of help treat those concerns, but if you're not going home and taking care of your skin every morning and every night, yeah, my treatments that I'm gonna recommend are gonna be working so hard, and I may not really ever be able to get your skin truly healthy. So at that point, the patient understands why I'm recommending all these things. It's not just a sales thing. You have to educate them on why they don't know. So that's what I would do. I would create a treatment plan and tell you why you need both. So, first let's talk about the in-office procedures I'm gonna recommend. I'm gonna recommend one treatment that is gonna be fairly easy for you to do. It's got minimal downtimes called microneedling. This is gonna help to restore collagen in the skin. This is what you're losing and what's causing your skin to age and why you're starting to see a lot of things. And you said you're looking worn and weathered. That's because we need more collagen in the skin. So I'm gonna recommend microneedling. Now, this treatment is not a one and done. I'm gonna recommend three treatments repeated every six weeks. Minimal downtime, you'll have a little bit of redness the day of, you might be a little bit pink the next day. Um, I would give just a little bit of information on that. And then I would say, now, the big kahuna that I'm gonna recommend is a CO2 laser. This treatment is gonna require some downtime. I definitely want you to take time for the healing because if you don't, you're gonna have poor healing and poor results. So I want you to be very careful about what you're planning while you're going through this healing. You are gonna have lots of irritation, lots of redness. There's probably gonna be some oozing in the skin. It is an invasive treatment, but it's gonna help to completely restore the skin and target those, that that texture that you just don't like. It's gonna help to just remove all of that skin and give you nice, healthy, bright, glowing, tight skin. So that's my two treatments that I'm gonna recommend for you. Aside from that, these are the products that I'm gonna recommend for your at-home care. And as a provider, I would give her something to take, like that shows everything that we talked about. Maybe even give her the current pricing for it so she understands what it's gonna cost. After that, after a provider does that, it is then at that point up to the patient to actually commit. You know, a lot of times when I'm having these conversations with my aestheticians, they'll go, Well, no, I I didn't recommend the skincare because I just felt like, you know, the microneedling package was already like a thousand dollars and I didn't want to recommend skincare on top of that. Why are you handling their budget? Don't do that, y'all. I made a really bad mistake when I was an aesthetician. And I'll tell you what I did. So a patient had come in, she was coming in to get um Brazilian hair removal, okay? And listen, I'm old. So back in the day we used to use IPL for hair removal. So it was expensive to do a Brazilian because it was lots of pulses, okay? So it was like two grand for a treatment of six for six treatments. So two grand for six treatments. So this lady books, had never seen her, never met her before. She was coming in for treatment one of six. She comes in, I walk her into the room, we're chatting it up while I'm getting the laser ready. We're talking about her kids, we're talking about all these things, right? We're cutting up, having a good time. So while I'm doing the laser treatment, she's like, hey, I saw y'all scary, y'all carried this specific skincare brand, and I've been hearing a lot about it, and I would like to get more information. I was like, oh yeah, girl, absolutely. Well, then we started talking about her kid again and his football. And I just completely got off the subject about the skincare. It wasn't until we were walking up to go to the checkout counter where she said, Oh, shoot, we didn't talk about the skincare. And I said, Oh, girl, don't worry about it. You'll be back in several weeks and we'll talk about it then. Walked her up to the front desk. I went about my merry way. I saw nothing wrong with our entire interaction. I thought it was a great treatment, a great service. I expected no negative feedback. Well, later that day, the office manager was like, Hey, look, I just need to let you know. She came, she complained and she didn't purchase the package. She only bought the one treatment that she did and said she would not be returning. And I was like, Why? We were vibing. We had such a good interaction. Like, I'm so lost. And the office manager said, Well, did you say something like maybe about her budget? And I said, No, we didn't talk about money at all. Like, not even one time. And she's like, Well, because she was annoyed. And when she said, I don't want to buy the package, I just want to buy the one treatment. I asked, Well, was there something wrong with the service? Is there an issue with Sam? And she said, Well, I don't know if it's because of the way I'm dressed. Like I just came straight from the gym and I came here for my treatment. Maybe she just saw how I was dressed and assumed I couldn't afford the skincare. And I don't want to do business with people like that. Like, I'm not gonna patron a business that's gonna judge me based on the way that I that I dress. And I was mortified because that is not at all like where my mind was or where I was going. And I said, I'm calling her. And the office manager's like, no, you're not. And I'm like, fire me, fire me. Cause at that point I had never been complained about. And I certainly wasn't gonna have someone not like me or my service because of something that was not at all right. Like, if you didn't like me because of something I actually did like find cool, I would have just like ate it. But I was like, no, like this, I can't have a lady out there thinking that I'm judging her but based on her budget, like or her money. Like, no, no, can't do that. So I called the woman and I said, look, I'm probably gonna get fired after this phone call, but I had to call you. And I want to first say this. I am truly embarrassed and I am so incredibly sorry. And I really hope, even if you never come back to see me, I I hope you forgive me. And I I I felt like I just needed to call you and share this with you. I did not judge you on your looks at all. As a matter of fact, I think you are absolutely adorable. And I really like the clothes that you were wearing, to be honest. I said, what it was is I am a broke Biatch. Okay. I am poor and I cannot afford $2,000 plus some skincare. So what I did was I just thought in my mind that I was doing you a favor, that like, why bog you down with all the skincare talk and everything today when we could just do it the next time when you come in and you're not paying anything? And it wasn't at all you, it was me. And so I am mortified, I am embarrassed. I'm actually very grateful that you shared your thoughts and your experience because now I know moving forward to never ever do that again. And thank God she was so kind. We're actually still friends to this day. Okay, I adore her. Um, and all is well and it worked out. But I share that with you because I don't think it's necessarily up to us to determine what people can and cannot afford. You'd be surprised, even if somebody isn't like rolling in the dough, maybe this is something that's very important to them. Maybe it's important to their like mental health, and it's something that they want a budget for because it's something that means a lot to them. And who are we to like say you can't afford it? So when you're recommending these treatment plans, all you need to do is recommend the freaking treatment plan. That's it. If they can't afford it, they're gonna tell you. They're gonna say, oh no, that's completely out of my budget. And then at that point, you can try to create something or make adjustments that work within their budget that they had in mind. That's okay too. But if they're not gonna budget for what you're recommending, then you need to have a realistic expectations talk. Like, for example, if the patient would have told me, like, I can't do the CO2 laser, it's a little bit out of my budget, it's out of my price range, then I would just recommend a laser that is not as invasive or as aggressive. But I would tell her, look, this is still a really great treatment. It might not wipe out your scarring though, with one treatment. We may have to do several treatments. See, I'm just explaining to her that like it's it's a possibility, but you're not gonna get the same results. And we do have to have more treatments. It's just having a realistic expectation of treatment. And I know sometimes it can get uncomfortable, especially when you're recommending all the things. But I just want to challenge you to think about who and what you are. Maybe this would be different for like, I don't know, like a massage therapist or like a spa aesthetician, where we're not, we're really doing things for relaxation and for comfort. But if you're in a medical practice and you're doing things like uh lasers, aggressive chemical peels, like you're doing corrective treatments. I would challenge you to really and truly put your mind where you are. And what do I mean by that? Think, okay, now I know I'm people are gonna come for me. Like, I'm not saying that treating the skin is the same as treating other organs of the body like the heart, but I just want to put you in the in the in the mind frame. Like, let's say I go to the doctor because I'm just not feeling well. Like I'm having, you know, I'm tired, I'm fatigued, um, I just don't feel right. Like I feel like something's wrong. So I go to the doctor. Typically, the doctors are gonna do a consultation and an assessment, maybe might even run some blood work. So let's say that blood work comes back and the doctor says, Okay, Sam, I'm looking at your blood work. You got diabetes. I really don't have diabetes, but I'm just saying, okay, go with me. So he says that. He's not gonna ask me, Well, can you afford to eat right? Can you afford these medications? They're not. The doctor is gonna say, Listen, you have something wrong. And if you would like to get healthy, we need to get on the game. We got to get on the ball. You're gonna need to do this injection once a week. You're gonna need to take these pills to regulate blood sugar. I know nothing about this. I'm literally making this up. Um, you also need to like avoid specific foods. You need to eat healthier, try less processed foods. They're not asking, can you afford it? They're just creating a treatment plan. It is up to Sam. It's up to me to actually say, okay, this investing in this is important to my health. So I am going to do what I can to afford it. And I'm gonna do what I can to actually take the medication, not just go buy it, but actually take it. I'm also gonna take the steps to eat right and challenge myself to be more active so I can get healthy. Sam is gonna be the reason that my body gets healthy or it doesn't. The doctor has already done their job. They gave me the plan. I just have to follow it. And so that's where I would challenge you as a provider to kind of put in your mindset. Like it's not about can they afford it? Should I recommend this based on price? No, you have a concern with the largest organ of your body, and here's the plan that we're gonna take to get it healthy. It's up to the patient to actually do it. Okay, so patient. I think that if you are seeing a provider, they are giving you treatment plans, they're recommending at-home care, they're educating you, their job is done. You have to be able to hold yourself accountable for your own skin health journey. And I say that with love, especially with my friend who was like, I don't think I'm seeing results. I'm like, girl, the only way that it could be that provider's fault is if she was going home with you. And every single night she said, girl, wash your face. Girl, put on the creams. Hold on, it's been six weeks. You're due for your microneedling. Come on, call the place, let's go, schedule it. We need to get you there. That would be the only way that it is that woman's fault because I know good and well that she has given you a full-on laid-out treatment plan that you are choosing not to follow. And she couldn't say nothing after that because she knew I was right. So, as a patient, you have to be in charge of your own skin health journey. And those providers, they sometimes think they are the driver, like they control all. No, babe, it's their face, it's their life. They need to be in charge of their own skin health journey. So, where is the provider in the skin health journey bus? In the backseat. You are the guide. You are there to say, okay, we're going, we're taking this direction because XYZ. And I need you to take a left because XYZ. Oh, here we go. Take a right, keep on going, girl. You're doing this, you got this. I'm so proud of you. Wait, hold on, stop. This ain't good. Take a right, take a left. That's where the providers fit well. The patient is in the driver's seat. So when you recommend those treatments and all of that, it's up to them to put the key in the ignition, turn it, put to the floor, and actually go. Put them back in the driver's seat when they try to stray away. Like, for example, you give this big old long treatment plan, but that patient says, Oh, that's great. Thank you for recommending those treatments and products. But you know what? I'm just gonna get that one microneedling treatment today. Thank you. It's always that one. It's always that one that wants to come back in two weeks, two months and go, you know what? I don't think this is working. I don't think this, this, this treatment is working. That's why those treatment plans are so effective. Because then you could say, well, hold on a minute, let me pull your treatment plan. Oh, well, it looks like you committed to 10% of the treatment plan. So if you want 10% of the results, then keep on going. But if you want a hundred percent of the results, let's get you back on treatment. See how I did that there? I'm just gently putting her back in the driver's seat. Let's get you back on treatment. Let's do that micro that second microneedling. Or, hey, do you have the downtime for the CO2 today? Or actually, you know what? We have an event featuring the CO2 next month. If you want to come back next month and get better pricing on it, that would be a really great time to do it. Another thing is I've noticed that you haven't purchased any of the skincare recommendations that I made. Are you using other things at home? If so, hey, tell me what you're using. Maybe we could, you know, incorporate that with this treatment plan. Oh, you're not using anything? Well, remember that, you know, analogy I told you about the dentist? I mean, you have a responsibility too to be taking care of your skin at home. So let's get you on those products. And look, if you can't commit to everything I recommended, let's start with just a kit. We can get you on a kit today that kind of lets you dip your toe in and kind of see how this protocol thing really works. It's so simple. You're just a guide. And patients, you have to hold yourselves accountable. They're doing their job, they're guiding you, they're giving you the plan. You are the one that's choosing not to follow through. So I hope that was helpful. I hope it inspired some of you. If you're a provider. That maybe isn't taking the treatment plan approach, maybe you're not exactly giving all the full recommendations, then maybe this will inspire you to just take your consultations or your time spent with the patient a step farther. So that way you can't be to blame if something goes wrong. And then if you're a patient listening to this, I really hope it allows you to give your provider some grace because they're not miracle workers and they work very hard for you. They do. Not only are they working their butts off in your treatment plan, but they're going that extra mile to continue their education. They're flying out of state to learn more, you know, the new techniques, the new things to bring the state of the art best of the best back to their practice for you. So start being realistic with your expectations. Start understanding what you are accountable for and what you're not. And that way, when you don't feel like you're necessarily pleased or happy, you can step back and say, well, who's to blame? Whose fault is it? And maybe you'll have a little bit of self-reflection. All right, guys, that's all I've got for you today. Don't forget to follow me on all social media platforms as the Skintrovert. You can listen to me on all podcast platforms. And until next time, see ya. Bye, guys. Think of the Skintrovert as your aesthetics roundtable, not a training manual. This podcast is for professional education and discussion. It's not medical advice. Your scope of practice matters, regulations vary, and your license always leads. To continue the conversation, follow the skintrovert on Apple, Spotify, or any platform that you listen to your podcasts.