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Adrian Richards interview – a chat about his new book ‘Key Notes on Plastic Surgery’

Anyone interested in better time management would do well to have a chat with Adrian Richards. As well as being a busy surgeon, aesthetic trainer, bass player, father of four, sometime marathon runner and Clinical Director of both Aurora Clinics and Cosmetic Courses, Adrian has also found time to write a book.

He has just finished the second edition of his best-selling textbook, ‘Key Notes on Plastic Surgery’, a concise reference guide for surgeons in training, along with co-author Hywel Dafydd. We sat down with Adrian for five minutes to talk about the book.

Hi Adrian, why did you write the first edition of Key Notes?

When I was doing my final exams in Plastic Surgery, I really felt a need for this type of book. As it didn’t exist, I decided to write it myself. I’m delighted that most Plastic Surgeons doing their final exams now have a copy with them.

How would you describe the style of the book?

George Orwell felt that sparse writing was the best. While I can’t claim to write like him, I tried to live by this principle – using the shortest word that would convey meaning and keeping the text and sentences as concise as possible.

Who do you think will read the book?

Anyone who buys it I suppose! But most people who have it are either junior Plastic Surgeons preparing for their major Plastic Surgery exam or experienced surgeons who want to keep up with the latest information.

Is Key Notes in Plastic Surgery suitable for members of the general public?

The book is quite technical but it’s designed to be easily understood. We’ve broken up the information using bullet points, so anyone with an interest in Plastic Surgery will be able to dip into it.

Why might a member of the general public read the book?

Perhaps if they were researching a particular aspect of Plastic Surgery the book might be a good reference for them.

Why have you published a second edition of Key Notes in Plastic Surgery?

The first edition was really popular but times and techniques change. Plastic Surgery is a rapidly evolving speciality and the book has been updated to reflect this.

What are the differences between the 1st and 2nd Editions?

The second edition is slightly longer and has many more diagrams to bring it to life and help the reader understand what is a very visual speciality.

Why have you recruited a co-author?

When I wrote the first edition back in 1999 I was a young Plastic Surgeon with an up-to-date knowledge of the breadth of Plastic Surgery. Like all Plastic Surgeons, I now focus on specific types of surgery. For this reason, Hywel Dafydd has been responsible for the majority of the updated content in the 2nd edition.

What is Mr Dafydd’s background?

Hywel reminds me of a younger version of myself. He has just passed his final Plastic Surgical exams and is travelling the world learning the latest Plastic Surgical techniques before starting his Consultant post in Swansea. Having studied for the exams for the last 3 years Hywel has an excellent and broad understanding of the current state of Plastic Surgery.

Will there be a 3rd edition of Key Notes?

I would like to see a new edition of Key Notes published every 10 years – ideally updated and improved by a new generation of Plastic Surgeons finishing their training and at their peak of understanding the wide scope of Plastic Surgery.

‘Key Notes on Plastic Surgery (Second Edition)’ is published on 21 November 2014 and available to pre-order now from all good book shops, including Amazon.

 

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Find more clients with a FREE listing on our Skin Clinic Finder

At Cosmetic Courses, our relationship with our course delegates doesn’t end when their training does. We believe in supporting all our delegates as they embark on the exciting journey of carving out a successful career in the field of aesthetics. From the practicalities of setting up in business, to furthering your repertoire of treatments, to finding and growing your client base, we’ve a comprehensive support network in place that means once you train with us, we’re there to help you every step of the way.

Although the quality of our aesthetic training has traditionally been our strong suit, we’ve listened to your feedback about wanting more help on the marketing side, and have responded by creating a new sister website to help you.

What’s the NCN – and how can it help you?

The NCN Homepage

The National Cosmetic Network (TheNCN.co.uk) is a specialist clinic finder website that allows people to find and compare reputable aesthetic clinics close to them.

Our aim with the site is twofold – to give patients an easy way to find the most qualified, reputable practitioners in their area, and to help practitioners of a high standard to increase their client base.

The website shares information on non-surgical treatments, from the most established skin treatments, anti-wrinkle injections and facial fillers, to treatments for excessive sweating and thread veins, as well as innovative treatments like PRP Therapy.

A search function then lets people find quality clinics in their local area that offer the treatments. So a well-written listing that showcases your credentials could attract plenty of new clients to you.

How to get your FREE listing on the NCN

To make sure only clinics with the highest professional standards are listed on the site, and safeguard people seeking treatment, only clinics we personally approve make it onto the NCN.

And because every practitioner who has completed training with us has demonstrated they meet the required standard, we give all Cosmetic Courses delegates a free 6-month listing on the NCN for the treatments they have trained in.

When you complete any course from our varied programme, you will automatically be given a free listing on the site to help your potential patients find you.

Please feel free to take a look at the NCN website, and let us know what you think on our Facebook page. If you’d like any more information on the NCN, or any of our training courses, please get in touch with the team on 01844 390110 or email [email protected].

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Meet the Cosmetic Courses team at the ACE Conference

This weekend, 8-9th March, Cosmetic Courses are exhibiting at the ACE Conference If you’re going to be there, come along and say hello!

The ACE Conference is one of the biggest events in the industry, and it’s our first time exhibiting, so we’re really looking forward to it.

Lots of preparations have been made over the last few weeks, with the whole team working hard behind the scenes. Now it’s almost here, we’re excited to find out what the conference is like, and get the chance to meet lots of people in the industry.

You’ll be able to find us at Stand 31, where we’ll be offering lots of practical help for people looking to start or develop their aesthetic careers, including:

  • * Exclusive discounts – book a course during the conference and receive £100 discount!
  • * Advice and information on new training courses
  • * Upcoming course dates
  • * Business advice

On the Saturday afternoon at 3pm, our Clinical Director, Adrian Richards, and Aesthetic Nurse and Trainer, Mel Recchia, will be performing a live demonstration of lip augmentation with dermal fillers at ACE Conference.

The idea is to give people an introduction to the treatment, as well a taster of what they can expect when they come along to one of our courses. So if you are coming to the conference and interested in learning lip filler techniques, it should be well worth you coming along.

If you don’t have tickets for the event but think you might want to attend, the ACE conference takes place at the Business Design Centre in Islington, and entry to the exhibition is free (though if you want to attend lectures, seminars and masterclasses, a charge is payable).

For anyone who is going to be there, whether exhibiting or attending, we’ll see you there.

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The Keogh Review – What will it mean for cosmetic training?

The Keogh Review of plastic surgery’s findings published last month included recommendations that will likely be put in to practice and therefore enforceable by law. These will have ramifications for the entire industry and for those practising within it.

Notably, its recommendations for new regulations for non-invasive procedures. It’s recommended that those who administer procedures such as Botox and fillers will need to have proper training and qualifications and will need to be medical professionals.

So what will this mean?

1. Increased number of courses available

Though it has not yet been made clear what specific qualification will be required or the body designing it, it is nonetheless apparent that the number of courses for practitioners to earn the qualifications will see a huge increase in number. It’s rare for universities to offer courses in this field currently yet it’s likely that courses for non-invasive procedures will rise throughout colleges and universities.

2. Increased cost for training

New training qualifications and courses (including guidelines, syllabus, examining etc) will likely result in increased costs to train and obtain the relevant qualification. It’s possible that training now will avoid the higher costs that may arise once the regulations come in to law.

3. Increased, but better competition

Although an increased number of courses may result in more practitioners, the upshot is that you will be working in a regulated industry where you do not have to compete with less than scrupulous individuals or clinics.

For information about our range of aesthetic training courses, contact the team on 01844 390110 or email [email protected].

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Cosmetic Courses – March Round-Up

At Cosmetic Courses we have had an exciting and hectic month, from Foundation and Advanced Botox and Fillers courses to Chemical Peel and Dermaroller, with bespoke one-to-one sessions along the way.

At the beginning of the month we welcomed our delegates for the Foundation course, which is always an interesting course for us – mainly because we get to meet the new delegates for the first time as they are starting out on their aesthetic careers. We enjoy seeing our delegates beginning to learn and flourish in the world of aesthetics, gaining new skills and confidence throughout the day.

Our Advanced course this month allowed us to speak to many of our past Foundation delegates and hear what they have been practising since we last saw them. It’s always rewarding for the team to hear each delegate’s personal stories and what they have achieved before returning to us to further their aesthetic training.

Chemical Peel training is a great course where we see the delegates go from strength to strength in their knowledge of the skin physiology. These sessions cover the in-depth  theory in the morning followed by a fun and interactive practical hands-on session in the afternoon. This time  allows for any questions to be asked and gives each individual the vital reassurance for them to go and perform the chemical peel and medical microdermabrasion on their own clients.

The Dermaroller course was another huge success. Delegates got to learn and practise the treatment as well as learning the critical theory for diagnosing and treating the different skin types and conditions.

Overall March has been a very successful month for both our team and delegates at Cosmetic Courses. Moving forward we aim to continue to teach and support our delegates to the highest standards, ensuring that each individual is ready to progress in the exciting world of aesthetics.

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Botox and Filler Training: Movements in the News?

Recently in the press, the issue of Botox and Filler training and who can be trained has come to light. Due to legislation only medically trained professionals are able to teach but also learn how to inject Botox and fillers.

At Cosmetic Courses we only offer our training to medical professionals – our delegates being a mixture of Doctors, Dentists and Nurses. Our delegates have to be medically qualified and registered with one of the following: General Medical Council, General Dental Council or Nursing and Midwifery Council. This ensures that our delegates are fully licensed to practise within the UK.

In one case an untrained man has been caught teaching Botox and Fillers to beauty therapists, who cannot legally participate in these courses as they lack the required medical qualifications. The man training the beauty therapists was sentenced to time in prison due to the severity of his actions.

This is unfortunate for those trained by him, as they naturally believed the certificate he provided was authentic and allowed them to practise. However, as any respected  non-surgical training provider will know, beauty therapists are not allowed to perform Botox and Dermal Filler treatments.

Therefore it is essential that at Cosmetic Courses we offer our training to the correct delegates. We are CPD certificated as well as having a working partnership with Hamilton Fraser, our insurance company, to ensure this.

Through training with Cosmetic Courses you get the security that our highly trained professional team are there for continued support, from helping you when you start your new career choice to the finer details that may occur throughout your career.

Furthermore, all our trainers are experienced and registered with the relevant medical governing bodies, so they are fully qualified to teach and perform Botox and Filler treatment in line with the regulations and legislations currently in place in the UK.

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Marketing Your Cosmetic Business Online Part 2: Claim Your Domain

Claim Your Cyber Territory – Marketing

The second stage in our medical aesthetic business marketing blog series is to look at domain registration.

A domain name is the name of a website: cosmeticcourses.co.uk , for instance, is our teaching and training company. This is also known as the URL (uniform resource locator). Mr. Adrian Richards of Cosmetic Courses owns adrianrichards.com. But who owns variations of this, such as adrianrichards.co.uk? He tried to buy this some years ago but it was already taken by a professional person from Shropshire! Whilst researching this article, he looked it up again and this person has not renewed the registration so we have added it to our portfolio.

This is an activity you should consider performing at regular intervals to ensure that competitors are not gaining traffic for terms related to your business.

Buying Domain Names – Marketing

It can cost from under £10 a year to buy yourname.co.uk. To find out if your name is available, simply search for domain registration companies on Google and a search bar will appear. Type in your name and select .co.uk and you will see if it is available. Generally most of the more common names are taken but if you are called something unusual you may well find that it is available.

In recent years, more and more people have become aware of the value of URL’s and it is very rare to find any one or even two word combinations left. Some investment and pension schemes are even starting to value URL’s as a valuable asset which are increasing in value and are adding these to their portfolios.

You will see that there are many variations of domain endings available. (.com .biz .edu etc.) Names ending in .coms are the most popular and therefore most expensive as they are not county specific. Amazon.com for instance is the international version of Amazon, whereas Amazon.co.uk is the UK branch. If you live and work in the UK, we would advise you to buy the .co.uk version as it is likely to appear higher in searches performed within the UK.

What Happens Once You Have Bought Your Domain?

Once you have purchased your domain name, it will be registered to you and if you have entered your card details and selected the automatic renew it can be yours for as long as you want.

Once you have your domain name or names, you need to make sure they are registered to you at your address- this way you have control over them. A favorite ruse of many web design firms is for you and them to choose the name of a website and they then register it in their name. This means that technically you may not own it although you have paid for the website. In most cases this is fine but if you ever want transfer your website or have it re-designed by another company the fact that you do not own the domain may come as an unpleasant surprise.

Many astute people realized the power of domain names in the early days of internet marketing and registered lots of them for under £10. They are now worth many times this; just recently I received an offer to buy plasticsurgeon.co.uk for a figure over £10,000. Is it worth it? Why would I want it? The main reason is that URL’s containing an exact match for the term a user enters into Google are more likely to appear higher in a Google search. If I search for ‘plastic surgeon’ in Google (all other factors being equal) plasticsurgeon.co.uk will appear higher than adrianrichards.co.uk.

There is a group of experts who scour the market for high value lapsed domain names. This means that if either a large company or individual fail to re-register their domain name, after a period of time the domain is released to the first person to buy at the normal rate of under £10. This way it is possible to obtain a valuable asset for a minimal cost.

In our next Marketing Your Business Online Blog…Creating A Winning Website! If you are interested in more in-depth business marketing training for the medical aesthetics industry, Cosmetic Courses are experts in providing this. Call us today on 01844 390110 or [email protected]

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Ceart in Administration: Medical Aesthetic Insurance Options

Ceart in Administration? Please Advise

As you may be aware by now, the specialist healthcare insurance broker Ceart Risk Services has gone into administration.

If you do have a policy with Ceart, it is best to try to contact them to find out your options as, technically, you should be OK if already covered.

Hamilton Fraser Insurance help worried Medical Aesthetic delegates

According to reports, however, they are not responding to many enquiries via telephone or email. For many confused and anxious medical aesthetic delegates, alternative cosmetic insurers Hamilton Fraser Cosmetic Insurance have stepped in to offer advice and support; even for those who are not currently insured with them.

Hamilton Fraser ran a live Questions and Answers session on their Facebook page this Tuesday 7th February to deal with the unusually high level of enquiries and concerns. Many of the answers can now be seen posted on their page.

Cosmetic Insurance at Cosmetic Courses

At Cosmetic Courses medical aesthetic training, we have always chosen Hamilton Fraser as our principal insurance company, displaying the logo on our homepage and recommending them to our delegates when they ask us who to turn to for their own business insurance.

We are very proud to be one of only 4 recognised Hamilton Fraser Partner Courses (you can identify these by the gold ‘training course partner’ badges as featured on our site which differs from the standard Hamilton Fraser recognised training course icons).

What does this mean?

  • Well, the biggest bonus for you is that all our delegates receive 10% discount during their 1st year of insurance with Hamilton Fraser…something that only these special Training Course Partners can offer!
  • You can also find us right at the top of the recommended course listings on the Hamilton Fraser website (for London, Buckinghamshire and Northampton)
  • And read regular articles about us in the Cosmetic Insurance News Letter
  • Like all Hamilton Fraser recognised training courses, Cosmetic Courses’ membership means that our delegates receive Risk Management support and information leaflets, presentations and advice.

It is this kind of unconditional support which we know medical aesthetic delegates are really valuing at the moment, with uncertainty over Ceart and increased scrutiny of the industry in general. It’s good to know that there is an insurance company we can rely on, who recognizes Cosmetic Courses’ high standards too!

For any further questions about your cosmetic insurance or medical aesthetic training in general, please do not hesitate to call us on 0845 230 4110.

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Cosmetic Courses & Competency Certification

As the medical aesthetic industry comes under scrutiny, Cosmetic Courses supports calls for higher competency levels.

Botox and Dermal Filler Providers Under Fire

Not only the Surgical sector of the cosmetic treatment industry has come under scrutiny recently following the PIP breast implants fiasco. The Non-Surgical cosmetic injectables market is now also being heavily criticized for lack of regulation and the ease with which products / procedures can launch or professionals can become qualified.

The UK has been described as “an open goal when it comes to cosmetic injections”, with companies starting up and disappearing at the first sign of trouble and a “terrible…lack of training” (Dr. Mike Comins, president of the British Association of Cosmetic Doctors).

Dr. Comins has particularly stressed the importance of competence and for “only medical doctors, their assistants or supervised nurses [to] be allowed to carry out injections of Botox and fillers”.

Cosmetic Courses support Competency & Training for Medical Professionals

These are views which leading UK medical aesthetic training provider, Cosmetic Courses, has long upheld. Even before the PIP scandal hit the media, we were championing rigorous standards within cosmetic injectables training and had a strict policy of only accepting currently qualified medical professionals onto our courses.

Test the Water: then Commit to Competency

We understand that branching into a career in medical aesthetics can be a big commitment, so we do believe that delegates should be given opportunity for ‘taster’ training sessions where they do not have to invest so much money or long-term career aspirations up-front: some people do literally start aesthetic injecting and decide then and there it’s not for them.

Bespoke 1-1 for Competency Certification
But, if a delegate does then decide that they want to pursue a career in cosmetic injectables, we strongly encourage all training with Cosmetic Courses to continue to Bespoke 1-1 level which is the stage where you can be certified in competency. This is in line with the recommendation by the BACD and Mike Comins.

Training DOESN’T end with Competency
Furthermore, Cosmetic Courses always say that your training is a journey. Even having received Competency Certification, many delegates do decide to continue to Advanced Level and we positively encourage this. As Dr. Comins continues: BACD members ‘also have to attend a certain number of conferences and training sessions to maintain their membership’. Our own Cosmetic Courses trainers frequently do this, attending regular events, training sessions and conferences to keep up-to-date with all the latest products and techniques.

Keeping up-to-date is vital in this fast paced industry. This is why Cosmetic Courses believe that Competency Certification and Refresher Training go hand-in-hand. Although many delegates may have already been competency certified, this may have been years ago any they might not have done anything with it ever since. In that time, techniques and products will have moved on. The best practitioners keep up to date with regular training and activity: and Cosmetic Courses encourage all our delegates to be the best.

Our Commitment to You
As Cosmetic Courses’ manager recognized, we do not only expect our delegates to be the best they can be but we also expect the same from ourselves. As part of this ‘we are offering more courses and expanding our packages on an ongoing basis to ensure not just that you keep up but that we keep up’.

Cosmetic Courses also offer a support program so that all delegates are never essentially ‘alone’ after graduating from Cosmetic Courses. Despite being certified competent, if you ever need support or advice after having trained with Cosmetic Courses there is ongoing mentor support via telephone or email.

In all these ways we hope to be able to help do our part to regulate the standards within the industry.

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5 Tips for Medical Aesthetic Business Marketing

So I’ve done my Botox Training…now what?

Gaining thorough, high-quality training in medical aesthetic treatments like Botox, Dermal Fillers, Dermaroller Therapy and Skin Peels is only the beginning. Once you have these skills and are confident that your techniques are sufficiently advanced to be competent providing treatments to the public, what now?

Time to start Marketing your Business

Whether you already have an established practice and are adding medical aesthetic treatments to your repertoire, or are starting your business from scratch, your skills and expertise will never translate into profit without a fantastic reputation – or brilliant marketing! Both of these factors are interlinked: as your client base grows, they will start to spread the word amongst themselves and so your reputation will grow, too. But first you need to attract the initial streams of patients.

Marketing can be a daunting prospect if you don’t know where to begin. There are many business sharks out there, eager to profiteer from the common knowledge that medical aestheticians are not necessarily marketing and technology savvy.

Marketing and Technology savvy?

Yes. These days, the two are well and truly interlinked.

Whilst some forms of offline marketing – adverts and features in local magazines and newspapers, fliers or posters – may serve you well, the wider market is lurking online. You have the potential to reach much greater numbers, further afield and at a lower cost. If you get it right.

Where to start?

There are a few bog-standard basics that Cosmetic Courses recommend for delegates looking to market their medical aesthetic business:
1. Create a brand, not just a business
Spend time choosing a catchy name and slogan, design an eyecatching logo and be consistent with colour-schemes from stationary to sites. The objective is to establish branding instantly recognisable and so compelling that prospective patients choose you over your competition.
2. Get socialising:
Social media is a very powerful tool for networking, creating your brand image and engaging prospective patients. First you need to identify where the majority of your patients ‘hang out’ – is it Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Youtube or Google+? Very few small business owners have time to juggle all these accounts so maybe just focus on one or two for best results. Each has strengths and weaknesses unique to the medical aesthetic industry – look out for more on this in a future Cosmetic Courses blog!
3. Don’t just say it, Blog it!
A blog is a great way to create a more personal voice for your company, let patients know what is happening, what offers you are doing and what you are thinking.
4. SEOk
SEO (or search engine optimisation) is vital to making sure your website works to pull in patients. Combined with social media and creating lots of new content through your blog and on your website pages themselves, SEO involves researching keywords to see which are most popular with your patients when they search online. You then need to make sure all your pages frequently mention these words: in a natural-sounding way! There’s quite a knack to this and there are many hints’n’tips tutorials online…or you can get Cosmetic Courses to give you some training!
5. Make Links
Inbound link-building can boost the visibility of your site on search engines and help you network with other sites. There are lots of ways of getting links to your site…but you need to be aiming for high quality, relevant links, not tons of cheap ones from sales sites that are nothing to do with yours!

These 5 business marketing pointers are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to using digital for your medical aesthetic business. There are also many factors specific to the cosmetic industry which need to be borne in mind.

If you would like some training in business marketial traning for your medical aesthetic business, why not consider a business marketing training course with Cosmetic Courses? With expert guest speakers, hints and tips a-plenty and lots of ongoing support after the initial training, it could be just what you need to get your business off the ground! Contact us on 0845 230 4110 or [email protected] for more details about upcoming dates and availability.

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