What to expect at your first aesthetic consultation

TL;DR

• A first aesthetic consultation is a 30 to 45 minute conversation, not a sales pitch: your medical history, a skin assessment, your goals, realistic outcomes and a written plan.
• You should never be pushed to book or pay on the day. UK guidance expects a cooling-off period so you can go home and decide.
• Bring questions. The five worth asking are about the practitioner’s qualification, the exact product or device, the risks, the recovery, and the full cost.
• Check the clinic against an accredited register before you go. Laser and IPL should be delivered by someone holding a Level 4 qualification.
• At CoLaz every treatment starts with a free consultation, a patch test 48 hours before the first laser or energy session, and a plan written down before you commit.

Booking your first aesthetic treatment can feel like a leap, and the part that decides whether it goes well is not the treatment itself. It is the aesthetic consultation that comes first. A good consultation is where a qualified clinician works out whether a treatment suits you, what it can realistically do, and what it cannot.

Most of the disappointed patients we meet did not have a poor treatment. They had a poor consultation, or no real consultation at all. This guide explains what a first appointment should cover, how long it should take, the questions worth asking, and how to tell a careful clinic from a sales floor.

What happens at a first aesthetic consultation?

A first aesthetic consultation is a structured conversation that checks your suitability for a treatment before anything is booked or carried out. It is not a sales appointment, and a careful clinic treats it as the most important half hour of the whole process.

A thorough consultation covers a few clear stages. The clinician takes your medical and skincare history, including any allergies, medication and past treatments. They assess the area you want to change, often by Fitzpatrick skin type (a scale of how your skin responds to light) for laser and light-based treatments. They ask what you are trying to achieve, then explain what is realistic and what is not. A sensible place to start is the question worth asking yourself first: what do I want to change, and why.

You should leave with a written plan. At CoLaz, that plan sets out the recommended number of sessions, the spacing between them, the device or product, the price per session and any maintenance you will need later.

How long should an aesthetic consultation take?

A proper aesthetic consultation usually takes 30 to 45 minutes, long enough to take a full history and talk through realistic outcomes without rushing. Anything that lasts five minutes at a reception desk is not a consultation.

Professional bodies set the tone here. The JCCP describes a consultation as the time to explore your reasons, your medical history and your expectations, not a quick form to sign. The point of that time is informed consent, and you cannot give it in a hurry.

If a clinic offers to assess you and treat you in the same brief slot, treat that as a warning sign rather than a convenience.

What questions should you ask at your consultation?

The five questions worth asking are about the clinician’s qualification, the exact product or device, the risks, the recovery, and the full cost. Good clinics welcome all five.

1. Who is treating me, and what is your qualification? Every laser, IPL and energy-device treatment at CoLaz is delivered by a practitioner who holds a VTCT or Ofqual Level 4 qualification in laser and IPL. Ask to see it.
2. What exactly are you using? You are entitled to know the device or the product. For injectables, the honest terms are anti-wrinkle injections or dermal fillers; UK advertising rules mean prescription medicines are not promoted to the public by brand name, so the consultation is where that detail belongs.
3. What can go wrong, and how do you handle it? It helps to ask about the product, what could go wrong, and your recovery in the first 24 to 48 hours.
4. What does recovery look like? Ask when you can return to work, exercise and your normal skincare, and when you will see the final result.
5. What is the total cost? Not just today, but the full course and any maintenance later.

Should you feel pressured to book on the day?

No. You should never feel pushed to book or pay at your first aesthetic consultation, and UK guidance is clear on this. A cooling-off period is the norm, not a favour.

The GMC expects practitioners to give patients time to reflect before they decide, so the choice is made calmly and not on the spot. The advertising regulator agrees: the rules warn against undue pressure and time-limited offers that rush people into cosmetic decisions. The NHS also says you should be offered a cooling-off period and can walk away if you are not completely comfortable.

We never sell a fixed course on day one before we have seen how your skin responds. You take the written plan home, and you decide in your own time.

How we run a consultation at CoLaz

When I took over the CoLaz network in 2023, the first thing I rewrote was the consultation script every clinic uses. Across our seven UK clinics, that consistent half hour is what makes CoLaz one brand rather than seven separate businesses.

Every consultation follows the same steps: medical and aesthetic history, current skincare, allergies and medication, Fitzpatrick skin type, your goals, realistic expectations, contraindications, the patch test requirement, the written plan, and pricing in plain language. Every new clinician shadows a senior colleague through twenty consultations before they run one alone.

The consultation itself is always free. You can book one through our free consultation page, by WhatsApp, or with your nearest clinic directly. If you prefer to read first, our common questions page answers what most patients ask before they come in.

What is a patch test, and why 48 hours before?

A patch test is a small trial of the treatment on a discreet area of skin, carried out 48 hours before your first laser, IPL or energy-device session. It checks how your skin reacts before we treat the whole area.

The 48-hour gap matters because some skin reactions take a day or more to show. Testing first lets us confirm the right settings and the right plan, and it is the difference between a course that suits you and one that should never have been booked. For darker skin in particular, matching the laser wavelength to your Fitzpatrick type at this stage helps prevent pigmentation problems.

We will not deliver a first energy-based session without it. The patch test is part of the standard process for every laser, IPL and energy-device treatment, not an optional extra.

How can you check a clinic is properly qualified?

You can check a clinic against the accredited public registers before you ever walk in, which is one of the most useful things a patient can do. Most non-surgical treatment in the UK is still largely unregulated, so this responsibility sits with you.

Three registers are worth knowing. The JCCP keeps a public register of accredited practitioners and clinics. Save Face is a government-approved register that only accredits doctors, dentists and nurses who pass a detailed assessment. The Care Quality Commission, the regulator, oversees clinics that carry out surgical or prescribing activity, though it does not yet cover most facial injectables or laser hair removal.

For laser and IPL specifically, the person treating you should hold a Level 4 qualification. If you want a fuller list, our guide on choosing a clinic walks through ten checks.

What a consultation costs, and how pricing works

The consultation is free at every CoLaz clinic, on every treatment. There is no charge to come in, talk through your options and take a written plan away.

Treatment pricing follows a simple rule. Every CoLaz price is shown as a From figure, which is the lowest single-session price for that treatment, and the exact cost for your area or tier is confirmed in writing at the consultation. There are no fixed packages pushed on day one. You can see the headline figures on our pricing page, and the rest is agreed with you before you commit.

Why a good consultation matters most

A good consultation is a good treatment. That is the lesson I was taught on my first week on reception in 2013, and it still holds.

The patients who are happy a year later are almost always the ones who had an honest first appointment: a clinician who matched the treatment to the person, set realistic expectations, and was willing to say no when no was the right answer. Saying no protects you, and it is part of careful practice.

There is one more reason the first appointment matters. A careful clinician also looks at why you want a treatment, because research links some cosmetic settings with higher rates of body-image distress, and a responsible clinic will pause rather than treat when that is the kinder answer.

If you are considering a treatment, book a free consultation and bring your questions. You will leave with a written plan and the time to decide. That is how it should work.