Chapter 3: The Consultation Flashcards
How to prepare for a consultation:
- Set aside a 30 minute slot for a client consultation
- Have a medical history and consent form ready as well as a LaserSmart Skin Typing Chart
- Have the client fill out this information, so that you can determine their candidacy for treatment as well as prepare them for a comfortable experience.
Pre-Treatment Procedure (consultation continued):
Have a thorough conversation
- During the consultation, comprehend the reason why the patient is seeking treatment and understand their explanation and expectations
- after receiving and understanding the explanation, have a thorough conversation regarding the treatment condition, the indication and contraindications, the possible side effects and realistic expectations
Absolute contraindications:
Relative Contraindications:
Request specific written permission which should contain the physicians reference to the following details:
- The patients specific medical condition
- The specific intended treatment
- The physicians specific permission to perform the treatment related to the patients medical condition
—this permission should be documented in the patients records
—it is recommended to wait a period of two weeks before having an IPL treatment
Before and After Photographs:
-should always be taken before the first session and after the last one
-information included in this photo should be:
—patient name
—treatment type (HR, SR, VP, AC)
—treatment # and date
It is also important to communicate the following to a patient before treatment:
- Patients with history of herpes simplex should get preventative medication by a physician prior to the treatment
- The texture of the skin may change (improve) and pigmentation of the skin may become more universal
- Transient erythema (redness) and edema (swelling) may appear immediately after the treatment
- Treatment may be discomforting and may be painful
- The therapy series is consisted of several treatments over a period of time (usually several months)
- If there is hair in the treatment area it must be shaved prior to treatment and only if the patient understand that it might not grow back (DPC)
Skin Typing Chart:
Skin Typing Considerations:
- never assume a persons skin type
- have a complete conversation using our LaserSmart Advanced Skin Typing Chart
- Ask the client/ patient the questions on the LaserSmart Advanced Skin Typing Chart and ill it in with them to ensure accuracy (they may have coloured their hair or may wear contact lenses)
- we live in a very multicultural society where clients have many mixed ethnicities, always pick the darker of the two.
Important considerations for skin typing:
- if a client/ patient has pigmentation or hair follicles that are very dense and dark in colour, it may be wise to treat the skin according to the damage, as the light energy may be absorbed rapidly
—if this is the case, treat the client as a skin type darker
Fitzpatrick Skin Type Chart Diagram:
How to conduct a skin test: (what to do before beginning test)
- Select the appropriate skin type according to the Fitzpatrick I-V classification, hair melanin concentration, and body area
- As far as possible, choose a low visibility area with similar sun exposure
- Carefully shave the area, in order to avoid skin burnings
- Clean the treatment area, from all artificial substances and not with alcoholic substances
- Select appropriate parameters for the test, according to the SharpLight Test Chart (QRG)
How to perform a skin test for DPC:
- Accommodate the wavelength hand piece, hair/ lesion type, skin type, pulse duration (sec) and fluence (J/cm2), accordingly
- Apply a pulse and verify tissue response
- Based on the tissue’s response, apply up to three test pulses on adjacent skin spots, varying the parameters- only if necessary
- Evaluate the skin test results:
—for skin type I-III asses the response 30 minutes to 2 hours after the test
—For skin type IV-V asses the response 24 -48 hours later
How to perform a skin test for HR:
The desired immediate response may include:
- mostly the smell of burnt hair
- a light stinging sensation while pulse is emitted
- light redness in skin type I-III
- Mild, diffused erythema
- Mild perifollicular edema
-if none of those signs have occurred, you may choose to change parameter
—increase the fluence by 1 J/ cm2
*pay close attention to the response of the skin in order to make the correct parameter choice
**only if necessary: increase joules once again by 1 J/cm2
How to perform a skin test for SR:
Immediate response must include:
- textural: stinging sensation while pulse is emitted
- pigmented lesion: immediate darkening
- slight erythema (not redness), warm sensation
*if none of those have occurred, you may choose to change parameter:
—increase the fluence by 1 J/ cm2
**pay close attention to response of skin in order to make the correct parameter choice
***only if necessary, increase joules once again by 1 J/cm2
