Start with a question.

What to include

• The area that concerns you, described in your own words rather than as a treatment name.
• What you have had done before, roughly when, and with what if you know.
• Anything relevant in your medical history that might rule a treatment out, in general terms.
• Whether you have a date in mind, since some treatments need weeks rather than days to settle.

What an enquiry can settle before you attend

• Whether the treatment you are considering addresses the finding you have described.
• What an assessment would need to establish, and roughly how long it takes.
• What drives the cost of the treatment in question and what a quotation should include.
• What the recovery involves, so you can judge the timing against anything in your diary.

What it cannot do

• It cannot diagnose, assess your face or tell you whether a treatment suits you. Only a qualified practitioner assessing you in person can do that.
• It cannot quote a final price, because cost follows the assessment and the plan.
• It cannot prescribe. A prescription-only medicine requires a face-to-face assessment by the prescriber, without exception.

If something has gone wrong after treatment

Do not wait for an email reply. Contact the practitioner who treated you immediately. If you cannot reach them, contact NHS 111 in Scotland or attend an emergency department.

• Any change in vision after facial filler is an emergency. Seek urgent medical care now.
• Severe or increasing pain, skin turning white and then dusky or mottled, or the skin feeling cool after filler needs same-day contact.
• Difficulty swallowing or breathing after botulinum toxin needs emergency care.
• Suspected side effects of a medicine or a device can be reported to the MHRA Yellow Card scheme by patients as well as clinicians.

Raising a concern about a clinic

• A registered healthcare professional: their regulator, such as the General Medical Council, the Nursing and Midwifery Council or the General Dental Council.
• A registered independent clinic in Scotland: Healthcare Improvement Scotland.
• Misleading advertising: the Advertising Standards Authority.

Keep a written record of dates, products used and what you were told. It is far easier to gather at the time than months afterwards.