The human face is an ideal canvas

Aesthetic medicine isn't for every family physician. But if the shoe fits,
this doc says wear it � with style

By Ilina Stranberg

"Many of us can't see our way clear to retirement," says Dr Roselynn Krantz, "and I'm one of them. Had I chosen a different career, I could be looking at retirement in a couple of years with the freedom to pursue my artistic interests, a greater portion of my innocence preserved and no lives hanging in the balance." So when patients in her busy Toronto family practice began asking her for Botox a few years ago, she pounced on the opportunity and set up shop. She felt with Botox on the books she could meet even more of her patients' needs, make more money and follow her muse all at the same time.

Dr Krantz is married with five children; the eldest is 23 and the youngest are four-year-old twins. She got her Botox training after her twins were born and feels it's made a positive impact on her professional life � even before she factors in the increased cash flow. "It's a very different relationship that you have with your patients, especially doing this as a woman. It adds balance to my life, it's fun and not being totally locked into OHIP [the Ontario Health Insurance Plan] gives me at least a level of personal autonomy. I also love to teach, so I get a lot of satisfaction from the time I spend training doctors to use Botox."

PAVED WITH GOLD?
Branching out into aesthetic medicine can be quite lucrative for FPs but it's not the no-brainer route to loot it's often cracked up to be. Profits vary by procedure and there are many factors to bear in mind, like the increased overhead of materials and equipment. But according to Dr Krantz when you take the potential profit into account, the startup costs for Botox and other injectibles aren't excessively dear.

"For Botox, you need training and a startup cache; companies will train you for the fillers." An evening training session with Dr Krantz costs $1,500 and your Botox supplies run you under $1,000, so you're talking about $2,500 for the whole shebang. Fillers like Restylane, a biodegradable non-animal stabilized hyaluronic acid injectible gel, aren't too expensive but they demand that one finds their inner artiste. "With fillers, you're playing with light and dark," she says, "it's the chiaroscuro, the shadows. By softening the shadows with fillers, you're changing the appearance."

FRIDAY IS BOTOX DAY
Another issue you'll have to consider is the decreased time you'll have for traditional office activities and the fees you'll need to earn to replace the income this would typically generate. Then think about the learning curve ahead of you. If you don't feel comfortable having patients pay directly for services you need to be prepared to overcome any awkwardness you may feel regarding the sales and marketing aspect of your new spectrum of services. Are you going to do this yourself or do you want to delegate?

Dr Krantz prefers to do the procedures herself, and on Fridays she devotes all her office time to aesthetic medical procedures and clinical patient emergencies. "People are really happy about changing their appearance. It's instant gratification that provides valuable psychological benefits, and I see it as a good fit with my medically-based practice. The first thing we do on the road to making a medical judgment is an assessment of how the person looks, and people use the same cues. If they like what they see, it reflects back."