Cosmetic Surgery Financing Tips & Tricks

Speaker 1 (00:07):
You're listening to The La Jolla Cosmetic Podcast.

Monique (00:15):
Welcome everyone to The La Jolla Cosmetic Podcast. I'm your hostess, Monique Ramsey. Today I have a very fun topic, money <laugh>, so, and who better to talk about money with me and financing than Janelle Robinson? She's our Chief Operating Officer. She's been now with the center for how long Janelle?

Janelle (00:35):
It's actually my 17 year anniversary today, so, 

Monique (00:40):
Oh, it's today? I was thinking it was tomorrow. I'm off by a day.  Well, congratulations.

Janelle (00:45):
No, it's very exciting.

Monique (00:48):
Yeah, so welcome to the podcast. So we kind of thought this would be a great time to talk about financing because it is such a, I don't want to say underutilized, cuz really one in three of our patients are using financing to help them get to their procedure quicker. But I think it's not talked about very much. And so that's what we want to do today is sort of break down those barriers, make it comfortable for everybody to talk about money, to ask about money. There's tons of resources. And so that's what we're gonna go through today. So you ready?

Janelle (01:26):
Yeah, I'm ready.

Monique (01:28):
All right. So, um, let's talk about first a little bit of your background and what you've done at the center, because I think that lends to your knowledge in the financing space.

Janelle (01:37):
Yeah, it does. I originally started in the marketing department and then evolved into a patient coordinator role where I helped the patients through the journey from their initial phone call, from their consult, going through their surgical plan, helping them get scheduled and really just all of the logistics involved in helping them make it happen. And when I became a patient coordinator after coming out of a marketing role, it was, first of all it was extremely gratifying. I loved the, you know, the connections that I would build and it was so inspiring to really see the range of patients that we have. And really we were such an accessible organization. I think people came in and were intimidated at first and as soon as they would have that initial phone call or when they came in, I could just tell all of that initial intimidation went away and we, you know, we really want this to be a comfortable journey for them.

(02:51)
And so when you say one in three of our patients use a financing program, it's really common. And I think some people are afraid to ask about that initially cuz they don't wanna appear that they don't have the means to pay for this. But we see people using the financing programs, even if they have the money in their savings, it just gives them maybe a little more access to do what they want or just a lot less guilt involved, maybe too <laugh>. So <laugh>. But to kind of back up, I mean that really was fun to be on the front lines after really trying to meet needs from a marketing perspective. How are we going to tell our story? And so being in that role really just opened up my eyes of how we could be there for people a lot more and how we could get the message out to make them feel like this was really accessible. It's not for people who are rich and famous. And so now I, you know, kept continuing to grow through the organization, started leading the patient coordinator team and now just expanded to more of the organization from the clinical department as well. So I am always trying to still help the team find ways to make this happen for patients and using my own personal experience in, in doing their roles. So that's been really helpful being in a leadership role, having done so many different things within the organization.

Monique (04:29):
And kind of at the risk of sounding hokey <laugh>, but we say La Jolla Cosmetic is where dreams become real. And really we believe that, and part of that is helping people make that dream become a reality. So whether that dream is a mommy makeover or that dream is cool sculpting or that dream is, you know, some filler or some laser, how you get there is part of it in the team that you choose. But also, you know, making it accessible. And so that's where the financing steps in. And you know, I think sometimes for some people talking about money can be uncomfortable, but like you say, I think with an accessible team, I think all the patient coordinators are very accessible and down to earth and they'll help you. Right?

Janelle (05:16):
Right, right. And you know, a lot of people also have maybe a budget in mind as they come into this and sometimes it requires a little bit more, or if you're in the med spa, maybe you have to do more than one treatment to achieve your goals. And so these financing plans can help you, you know, even if you've saved up where you just, the additional amount is done on a payment plan. And so it can help you bridge that gap but still not sacrifice on what really would give you, you know, not do less because that's all you can afford or you have saved up for. You'd rather do the little bit extra and financing will help you get there a lot easier. And you know, there's so many different programs based on your comfortability where you can do interest free and it be a lot less, you know, if you don't want to accrue interest along the way, it's certainly more guilt-free that way.

Monique (06:16):
So how, kind of, what is, if you can walk us through sort of it, let's say you're a patient and you're thinking about a facelift and so you go on the website and what's kind of the steps that you would recommend people take to kind of go into the, the money or the budgeting?

Janelle (06:37):
Mm-hmm <affirmative>, we, you know, we have our fees on the website. We do that because that is the biggest question that people often ask is how much is it, can I afford it? And so we do put those on the website so patients know right up front and really we have on there a lot of information about recovery. Just, you know, as you're doing research what that's all gonna look like. And I do still think it's really important to still be in touch with the patient coordinator to go through more what that really means because we do have our own operating room, we have anesthesiologists that we work with closely and so that's an all-inclusive fee and if you're doing research and you hear of something being less, you really wanna understand where do those differences come from? And we're not even talking about just the experience alone that is important too, or the board certification of the surgeon.

(07:36)
So it's really still important to have a phone call and understand what those fees look like and then you're gonna start thinking about what can I do to make that happen? Do how much do I have in savings? And you know, it was always really fun as a patient coordinator to go, okay, you've got this much in savings, you've got this credit card that has, you know, zero interest for up to a year and then let's put the rest on care credit or patient fi. And it's fun to help them do that. And that's what we do because then it takes away any potential nervousness of saying, well I might need a few different ways to get there. You know, some people are embarrassed to admit that and trust me, I've ran five credit cards and you know, pulled out a stash of cash and for that came from under the mattress and there's just, it doesn't matter how you get there as long as you get there. That was always my theory, so.

Monique (08:35):
Right. And to understand that that's pretty normal in terms of what we see.

(08:38)
It is. Yeah, it is. Yeah because everybody comes with different financial situations and sometimes I would hear moms were trying to, you know, buy their son or daughter a car or they're getting ready to go off to college and it was hard for them to think about parting with money and feeling selfish.

Monique (09:03):
Well I think all these tools, I, you know, each financing company we have a bunch that we work with and also I think, and we'll go through each of them, but I think what's also really important, we've been doing financing since the mid nineties, that's when we started with financing. So it's not something new for us. And there's a lot of different kinds of companies out there, <laugh>, it's almost like we vet, it's almost like skincare, you know, we vet what we sell in terms of what, you know, we offer to patients, we know it's gonna work well these financing, there's some financing companies that might have all kinds of hidden fees and not really be the greatest thing for our patients. And so I think we offer a lot of good different companies and I'll let you go into that. And then which kinds of companies you might use for which kinds of people.

Janelle (09:57):
Yeah, no that's a huge point because we've had many over the years where sometimes patients will bring us, I've been approved with, you know, company X and it's not really featured on our website and while we can work with them, we really, we try to guide the patient that they're somebody who does charge really high fees, potentially, you know, back retroactive interests, things that are not in the patient's best interests. So we do really find very patient friendly programs and patient five is really built on that. And they also have a relationship with Allergan, so if you get Natrelle implants or Botox that you get even a reduced interest rate as well. So they're really about partnering with the companies to ensure the patients are well taken care of. So we do, we do a lot of that vetting, which I think can take away some of that worry from the patients too, if there's any hidden fees or if it sounds too good to be true.

(11:05)
I would say the other thing that we've always done is we're not afraid from the organization standpoint to incur some extra fees sometimes to be able to give back more flexibility and plans to the patients and very, you know, few surgeons or organizations will actually offer those more extended interest free plans and we just know how valuable they can be to patients to really make this easier to move forward. So we do have some of those more extended interest free programs, which patients love, even if they had the money saved up, they're like, why not stretch it out 12, 18, 24 months? And so that's been a big differentiator too for us.

Monique (11:53):
So in a way then it's almost like an additional discount they pay, the patient doesn't see it, but if Dr Y down the street offers six months interest free and that's it and we offer 24 months interest free, it costs us the business. You're saying more?  Then okay, so then in a way that's helping them finance at a rate that's more comfortable maybe, but we're okay. Interesting. 

Janelle (12:23):
Definitely, definitely. And, and it's, we just wanna have as many options as possible. We never want someone who's found their fit with one of our surgeons and loves our office and the, the worst part is to say that we can't make it financially happen. That's, so we just try to take out all of those obstacles and find the most desirable plans and obviously ones that are, like you said, well vetted and will be fair to the patient.

Monique (12:54):
Now you mentioned on the website we've got, you know, all the prices are published and a lot of times it's not a fixed amount and it's, it's a range. And so can you kind of explain why there are ranges and what that means and when will they get that actual solid amount that they know that they're looking at?

Janelle (13:17):
Yeah, well first of all we have six plastic surgeons. So they all do have slightly varying techniques and times. And so we do have a range that reflects what their fees will be across the board with all of them. And then every patient is different. And so what, you know, somebody who's maybe five two and 110 pounds versus someone a little bit taller or heavier might, even if they're addressing the same areas for liposuction, you might still have varying times and complexity. So it is really on our initial phone call. Our patient coordinators are so highly trained and work so closely with the doctors that they're usually pretty good about over the phone. Once they ask very specific questions to the patient, they can actually give them a really good price range and often they're pretty dead on by the time they come in for the consult, which is where you inevitably get, you know, the surgeon's recommendations and they're able to pinpoint the length of the surgery and everything.

(14:28)
And so the patient coordinators are like, yep, that's what I thought it was gonna be <laugh> and the patient's relieved to know that they're in such, you know, well-trained knowledgeable hands too. So, or you know, we've even had, especially this happens a lot in the med spa, patients can even send photos beforehand and you know, if they really have a difficult time coming in for the consult or really just want to avoid any unnecessary time, then certainly they can send photos and we can usually give a pretty good range from that too. So that's always been really convenient as well beforehand. But yeah, those can really vary based on the individual. There's very few one size fits all surgeries. And same thing with Botox filler. Every patient needs a different amount of units to achieve their goals or syringes. And so just because your friend had that many doesn't necessarily always hold true for you as well.

Monique (15:30):
Good point. Good point.  And I don't know, do, I mean, do you find that it's common in the business to see places or doctors put the fees on the website?

Janelle (15:43):
It's not, and I'm not entirely sure there are reasons we've, we just wanna be super transparent and we want to respect the patient's time and all of our doctors and staff. So if we really are for some reason out of their budget, then we just would prefer we save your time, we save the doctor's time and you know, that's where too the patient coordinators will go through on the phone call, what, you know, what was your budget? Was this within your budget? And if, if not, then certainly we can explore a financing program and we should probably do that before you come in because you really, people come here and they get excited and the worst thing is, is once you've found the office and the doctor that you find, oh gosh, I'm not approved. And so it's similar to when you're going house shopping, that's pretty much the process you get, you know, approved with the lender and then you go through and you, and you know, okay, now I know I've got the means to afford this. And then you can kind of start looking at houses or cars, whatever it is that you're kind of the same thing for us too. 

Monique (16:58):
Yeah. Good point. Good point. So Janelle, I know when patients start looking for to have consultations with doctors, some doctors offer a free consultation, which we do. And some doctors have a consultation fee. Can you kind of explain maybe the logic behind why we don't have a fee or they might have a fee?

Janelle (17:21):
I think a lot of, and I can understand, you know, you wanna have people that are really serious coming in and you're blocking out 30 to 60 minutes of a surgeon's time, which is extremely valuable, especially when they're giving their expert advice. However, we do such a good job with our patient coordinator team, educating patients on the phone to really identify, and again, not just for us but for the patient that this is something you should pursue and come in. And so with a really thorough phone call, we can nine times outta 10 really pinpoint whether the patient's ready or not to come in for the consult and not just for that reason. I think we want people to come in and feel comfortable. This isn't such an intimidating journey for people and if you have to pay to just kind of explore your options, it may put another obstacle in front of you.

(18:26)
And we just wanna be really accessible and we still have a really, I mean, once patients come in, a lot of them end up scheduling because we've done so much of that informing on the initial phone call and we just create such a comfortable environment once they're here. They have a lot of confidence at that point. And because of all of the programs that we have to make it happen, we also have loyalty programs to make things more affordable. The Allergan Alley program also offers rewards. Galderma does the same thing. So there's so many other ways that, again, once you're here we really support you in that. We don't put it all on the patient. We really guide them through that and walk them through all of the options.

Monique (19:19):
So I know that we can kind of go into some of the specific companies, but like cherry financing, that's one of the ones that is used in the med spa. Do you know if they're a newer company for us or a newer company? Maybe in general, why do we use them and what kinds of programs do they have?

Janelle (19:38):
They're very similar too with their interest free options. They, it's funny, sometimes you might not get approved with one lender and you will with an with another. And so they've been, you know, really good about higher approval rates. But patient fine and cherry are really up there in terms of approval ratings. And I think we also find too, based on the volume that we do and the credibility of our office, that our vendors, specifically the lenders that is, are more willing to sometimes lower the FICO score minimum because they know that patients are probably not going to walk away from their payments if they're happy, they're much more likely to repay their obligations. And so our vendors really work with us as much as possible. And I think that's because of the volume that we do, but the good relationship and the good quality that they know we provide. So that's a big deal as well.

Monique (20:39):
Yeah, I was saying that it's like you, you finance a car, you finance a house, if you don't pay, they take it away from you <laugh>, you can't Yeah. Take away the facelift or take away the, the Botox, once it's in you it it or the work has been done, it's done. Right. So it's the same in, in a lot of respects, but it's different in the way that I guess the risk to these companies. So yeah, they would wanna vet those companies would wanna vet us.

Janelle (21:08):
Exactly. If you bought a car that was a complete lemon, you would be like, I'm not paying back on this. This is, you know, crazy. I'm, same thing, there's people that are more likely to throw in the towel with repayment if they're not happy with their results. And we have such high patient satisfaction that we believe there's a big correlation with how few defaults we have. So

Monique (21:34):
Now I know that, you know, there's, so when people go onto our financing page to learn about it, um, we have a calculator, a financing calculator, I think that's coming out soon, is that right?

Janelle (21:45):
Yeah, we ha we've always had the payment calculator tool with the specific lenders, you know, specific to care credit or specific to patient five. But we are developing our own and it's really helpful because then people can put in different scenarios. Often we don't just give you one treatment plan or surgical plan. We give you a couple of different options and that will allow you to put in the different fees and be able to see what's more comfortable for a monthly payment.

Monique (22:17):
Mm-hmm <affirmative>. So like if somebody was thinking, okay, I want the tummy tuck, but I also kind of want lipo and then if I have the lipo, I might wanna actually do a fat transfer. And so you might come out with a quote that's just the tummy tuck or tummy tuck and lipo or tummy tuck, lipo and fat transfer. And so is that that kind of situation?

Janelle (22:37):
Exactly, yeah. Or if you're debating on how much you're going to put down, you can put in different down payment scenarios. And so we've come up with a lot of popular monthly payments based on kind of what our deposit is really. Uh, a lot of people don't like to put a lot down, but you know, we've got our 360 lipo, you can get that for two 60 a month, but you could even have it be a little bit less if you just said, well I'm gonna do the 360 lipo, but then I wanna add a couple areas. And so it just depends on, you know, you can put in different scenarios and then that will enable you to see what the monthly, how that changes the monthly payment.

Monique (23:20):
Now how do people need to think about like their credit score? Is that something that is very cut and dry or does it depend on the company? Like do they need a certain minimum?

Janelle (23:31):
Well it's funny because a lot of times it's not just on your credit score. You could have a really good credit score, but if your debt to income ratio is high, then it's tough for them to approve you. And, and that can be confusing because they can say, why didn't I get approved? I have such high credit. And it's just because they have too much debt against the amount of income that they reported. And so oftentimes will suggest, you know, either they use, some lenders do accept a co-signer or you could have somebody else apply completely on your behalf depending on, you know, of course the relationship. But you know, you are oftentimes putting in your household income. So it's important to make sure you are putting in the number that they actually are asking for. Because it's not always just your personal income. I mean even if you live with your parents, it's a household income and so they're all contributing to all of the household expenses. And so you can include those things too. So there's definitely ways that you wanna make sure if you speak to someone, we can help guide you on the best ways to really optimize and increase your chances of being approved too.

Monique (24:55):
Now is there sort of a, a range of like how much people might be approved for like a dollar amount or a percentage of the surgery or how does that work?

Janelle (25:07):
Yeah, it's usually, I mean it can go anywhere. It could be as low as a thousand depending on what you request. If it's a med spa procedure, maybe you just need a little bit, you wanna add one or two extra syringes. Or if you're doing a surgery that's more extensive, you might be able to even get approved to with 20,000 and so, or even a little bit more PatientFi I wanna say can even go up to 40.

Monique (25:37):
Now, Janelle, should somebody get pre-approved before they schedule a consultation or does it matter?

Janelle (25:46):
Yes, I think that's the best way because again, I just, I've seen so many times patients get here not really financially prepare themselves and it's just bumming, you know, they're disappointed <laugh>, they're, they've gotten this far, they've met the doctor and really like them and they're excited about the possibilities and then it's like someone just pulls the rug from under them. I can't make this happen financially. And it's not very common that that happens because we can really get pretty creative. You know, even with our military patients, they, a lot of them don't know that Navy Federal Credit Union will actually oftentimes approve almost everyone because they can just garnish your wages if you don't pay back <laugh>. And so that's, and they're really desirable programs that they offer. So that's always something where if they're concerned about their credit stability, we have a lot of patients from the military and that's always been a really good option. So again, we just kind of buckle down and we go, all right, let's get creative. And so it's not very common that someone would come in and probably not find some way, but it's still like, why not just know before you start this whole process because  your time is valuable, our time is valuable. And it just makes it more exciting when you come in knowing you've got that big part out of the way.

Monique (27:20):
Right, right. And bringing up the military. So we also have, and we were talking about Alle or Galderma, some of the, the loyalty programs. We also have our glam fam for our med spa patients where they save all year long. But then there's also military. We do extend to military families a discount. We do and yeah, do we have a lot of people take advantage of that?

Janelle (27:47):
Yeah. And you know, it's, it's nice to be able to pass that along because they're just wonderful patients and we wanna give back. And so we do offer 10% off of the surgeon's fees for them and it's just another way of helping them get closer to their dreams becoming a reality.

Monique (28:09):
Now one of the companies you mentioned, care credit, do they act differently than the other ones in that it's like a credit card that you can use?

Janelle (28:18):
Right where you get that approval amount and then as you pay off, it's revolving. So you can still have access, if you got approved for 5,000 and you used 3000, that 5,000 will still be available credit once you've got that paid off, you know, or you have the remaining balance to use as well. And each transaction has its own separate payment plan so you can kind of chip away at one or the other. And some people like that cuz you can start a new one in the, in the med spa if you've had surgery and go up there and maybe use a thousand towards your Botox and filler and it's on a separate plan and it can have different terms and everything too.

Monique (29:07):
Oh interesting. Okay.

Janelle (29:08):
And that's really pretty much the case with PatientFi and Cherry too. They're all very similar in their structure and in what types of plans they offer and pretty competitive for the fixed, you know, if you really wanna have a low monthly payment. Here's one thing that a lot of people I've seen do that's just getting strategic and creative with it. But they say, you know, I, I'm, I know I'm gonna get a bonus at the end of the year, but until then I want a really low payment. And so they might choose one of the four or five year plans that have the interest, but they don't feel too bad about having interest if they know it's only gonna be for nine or 10 months until they get that bonus and then they can just pay it off. But they've given themselves a comfortable monthly payment until they can totally pay it off.

(30:01)
And because it was such a short time, they weren't really accruing much in interest. So there's, I've seen that happen too because when you have the interest free plans, your payments are a little bit higher with those cuz you have a shorter term that you're trying to get it paid off with. So that's where the fixed payment plans with interest really come in handy cuz they can give you a really affordable monthly payment. And a lot of people just have the intention of saying, I'm gonna try to pay it off sooner. So I don't have that much interest build up over the course of time, but it gives them, you know, some something more affordable in the meantime.

Monique (30:45):
Now do they need a certain minimum credit score or no?

Janelle (30:50):
Usually it's around a minimum of 620 to 640. We do have some lenders that will sometimes, again, depending on sort of their credit history health, they might go, you know, I'd go down to a 580 or a 600. But they might have limitations on what programs they could choose. Again, depending on the lender. But there are, as long as their debt to income ratio isn't too crazy and they seem to have, you know, a pretty stable amount of money in their bank accounts, then they're usually willing to kind of take on that little extra risk. But I would say probably the more challenging situation is for the patients who don't have any credit history at all. So maybe they don't have bad credit or they don't have a lot of debt, but they just don't have that credit history for the lenders to base their decision off of. And again, like you mentioned earlier, this is not like a car loan or house, it's an unsecured loan. We can't, the lenders can't go and get back that car or repossess the house <laugh>. And so it's just a little more challenging for those people I would say. So often we'll really encourage them to consider a parent or someone to help them co-sign or finance on their behalf.

Monique (32:20):
Mm-hmm <affirmative>. So one of the things that I think some people think is, I should know I should just keep saving. Like maybe I wanna do it now, but maybe if I save for another year or two then I would have it all and I wouldn't have to finance it. And what do you think, because you're, you've not only worked in the business a long time, but you've been a patient too, so you kind of know from the patient side what's the risk to reward having it now versus putting it off. What do you think about that?

Janelle (32:55):
As soon as you know you want to do something, you probably know you're emotionally ready and the, I would say the biggest common theme that has come from patients and even their spouses is, I wish I would've done this sooner. And you know, for, for so many people it has such a positive impact on their confidence and just their, their comfortability within their body and their husband's benefit from someone who feels lighter and happier and their kids or, or you're, if you're thinking about going back, getting back into the dating scene, it's like why wait? Because you're just losing those benefits by being able to enjoy them sooner. I mean this is, that's why these financing programs are so helpful because you don't have to wait until you can afford it and you can start enjoying your life a little bit sooner. And when the stars align and you've got a window of opportunity to do it and you know you're ready, it's just why delay that satisfaction any longer?

(34:13)
I mean I worked here 14 years before I did something and <laugh> and it was a lot of logistics more so than you know, anything. And I think I wanted to feel emotionally ready, but when I did, I was so mad at myself for not doing it sooner and kicking myself because obviously I knew I had a great place to be. But it just, yeah, it just didn't happen as soon as I wished now it would have. So, but that, you know, that's where these programs come in handy. Don't let the financial part hold you up from being able to enjoy your life to the fullest, whatever that might look like.

Monique (34:57):
Yeah, I think that's a really good point. And I think also as I get older, <laugh>, no, we're not getting older, but as you get older your ability to recover, like let's say it's a mommy makeover, having your mommy makeover at 35 is gonna be a lot different than at 55. Let's just face facts <laugh>. Right. You know? Right. And so that there's something there that's not a hard cost, but it's a cost in , how your body heals, how you're able to sort of bounce back. I was just listening, we have an upcoming episode with Nicole who's a, uh, one of our, she's our director of nursing and she just had a mommy makeover and she's had four kids and she bounced back so quick and I'm like, she had this huge surgery,

Janelle (35:42):
I know.

Monique (35:43):
She's back to work probably earlier than most, like she was back to work at modified whatever at, at a week, which is crazy <laugh>. I'm like, how did she do that?

Janelle (35:54):
She's in her thirties. Yep. 

Monique (35:56):
Yeah. But she's in her thirties. So then you kind of look at, you know, what's the trade off, not just maybe financially but and emotionally, but in terms of how quickly you can enjoy it, how quickly you'll recover. And something else you alluded to earlier about, you know, when life gives you sort of a, an opening like all the stars align with, whether it's childcare, whether it's a break from work, like certain things happen in your life to help you fit the procedure in and, but if it, you're not maybe financially you don't think you're there, this is where financing can step in. So you could do it in that moment.

Janelle (36:39):
Exactly. I mean that's often the hardest part for people is, okay, is this a good time for me to be off of work? Is this, oh we have got so many trips this year or we have family that aren't available or are available. Those are the hard things to get together really. And so just if you can get those all to a line, like I said, it's like just find a way financially because those times really are far and few between often, you know. And I would also say too, there's kind of this sweet spot for moms, you know, speaking of from my personal experience, it's like obviously you don't, it's not as easy when the kids are toddlers and they're still, you know, requiring a lot of lifting. But at the same time a lot of moms aren't really sure how to have that conversation with their kids. And so the younger they are, it's a little bit easier sometimes to discreetly do this without having to maybe have those conversations whether you're comfortable with that or not. So that would be another thing that I personally felt and that I saw a lot of patients struggle with. What am I gonna tell my daughter? She's 16, she's gonna know. And so that obviously is easier if your kids are younger and you don't wait too long for that.

Monique (38:01):
Yeah, that's a, that's a really good point. I had never never thought of that, but it, it makes sense and Nicole actually talks about that in her episode. But I think, you know, having, like you say, having the, to be able to enjoy the results sooner and even for everybody around you too, if you feel better in your own skin, then it changes your interactions with everyone.

Janelle (38:25):
Totally. And you're not held back so much, you know, you might go out more or if you are trying to get back into the dating scene, it's just, you know, a lot of people don't do things if they don't feel comfortable in their own skin or confident. Like I, I don't really wanna put, I dunno what to wear, I don't feel comfortable in that and or if you're trying to stay competitive in the workplace, that's another big one. It's like don'ts a big wait for that. Yeah.

Monique (38:53):
And I think for men and women it's equally discriminating in a way that, you know, people do judge you in how you look and people judge you on kind of perceived age and you look younger, you act, we all act young because we, we know we're all the same inside that that we were when we were 20. But it's having the, the inside and the outside sort of be matching. Yeah, I think so. Anything else that we didn't go over that we might wanna tell people about? Any patient stories you can think of that really were financing kind of stepped in or,

Janelle (39:30):
You know, I think the biggest thing that I saw overall and with not just one specific person, but just anytime I felt, even when somebody had the, the money saved up and they were just still struggling partying with it, it just, this takes away a lot of guilt and it's not just that aspect of it, it either, you know, can go, okay, you know what, I'm gonna just do this, I'm gonna pay it off a little bit later cuz it just, you could tell like that partying and you know, it feels a little selfish sometimes for people if you do have other people in your family that rely on you, it's like, oh, should I really be spending this much money on myself? And so I think these programs definitely have helped take that weight off of people's shoulders and or it's allowed them to do it, you know, they go, wow, I saved up 10,000 but it looks like I'm gonna maybe need a little bit more or I wanna now add this and then it's really gonna take my results to another level.

(40:34)
And so again, that's really been instrumental in helping people move the needle and take that next step. But also I would say from the non-surgical side, there's a lot of people who think one syringe can do accomplish so much and or they're afraid that if they do four or five syringes that they're gonna look overdone. And really you often need at least two, sometimes three depending on what you're trying to accomplish. And so this really helps people do the amount that's gonna give 'em the results that they want. Otherwise they do one, they pay $600 and they're like, I don't have, this wasn't what I was expecting. And so if you don't do the full recommended plan, it's hard because you're not gonna feel like you got your money's worth. And then with lasers and some of the other skin tightening procedures, sometimes you need to keep doing it and there's some maintenance involved you c And so if you just do one, you may not get the full effect either. You've gotta do a couple more to get really all of those brown spots or sun damage really addressed cuz it only treats a certain percentage of the skin surface each time. So yeah, I think those two things really being able to do the treatment plan that's best for you and not being held back financially and then just timing wise and with a lot less guilt, it's just a game changer.

Monique (42:17):
Yeah, I think that's a really good point of how thinking about, especially with uh, med spa things like syringes cuz you know, the box is a fairly decent side. You know, you have something that's sort of like seven by three and you know, you're thinking, oh that's a lot <laugh>, it's, it's like a, a third of its teaspoon or something. It's a really small amount. And so you're right, if somebody's trying to like redefine their cheeks and have a little more smoothing here or fix this area, you know, along the jawline, it's gonna take more. And it's like you say, if I think if you work in conjunction with your provider to sort of like, here's the optimal treatment plan to get you to the goal you're looking for, here's how we're gonna get there and it might not be what you were thinking. And so that's again like where Cherry comes in and and can help you get that result now. Right. And then in a way that you feel really good about it.

Janelle (43:18):
No, we just want patients to start the conversation so we can really help them and be a part of that journey because there are so many options and we've seen it all. So there should be no intimidation. There's many different ways to get there and that's what our job is to do is to help you get there.

Monique (43:40):
Yeah. And like we said, since the mid nineties, we've been doing this in one in three and I think that's interesting. I just, when I re saw that statistic and that's in our practice one in three finance and it's like, wow. And it was pretty steady between MedSpa surgery over the years. It's kind of just always that number and so yeah, it's nice to know that it's like you're not alone <laugh>, we'll help you through it. 

Janelle (44:07):
Exactly, exactly.

Monique (44:09):
Well thank you Janelle so much. And like I said, we're gonna put in the show notes, we're gonna have the links to things like our financing page, which has all the information in terms of the different companies we work with. And then very shortly we should have the financing calculator. And like Janelle said, you know, PatientFi might have their own calculator and Cherry might have their own calculator, but we're coming up with our own special calculator to help you change some scenarios around. But like you said, I think getting that consultation and that it's a no charge consultation, whether you're talking to a surgeon or in the med spa to kind of get narrowed down to, okay, what am I really looking at in terms of getting to my goal and how much it's gonna cost. And then your patient coordinator can help you get there. 

Janelle (44:57):
Yeah. And even if you're not sure you're ready for the consult, you will be extremely impressed with the amount of information you can get just from that initial phone call. But why not? It's complimentary, the consult and you can find out what your options are and decide from there. So we've got many different surgeons that you can meet with and med spa providers and so it's great because that would say that's another thing that the coordinators really try to do is guide you to who they think is a good fit for you, that based on what you're hoping to find in a provider communication wise, I mean, they're all here because they're excellent and they're highly vetted as well, but not everybody communicates the same and not all of our patients do either. So everybody tends to be different and we try to find that good fit for you.

Monique (45:57):
All right. Well thank you again.

Janelle (45:59):
Thank you.

Speaker 1 (46:06):
Take a screenshot of this podcast episode with your phone and show it at your consultation or appointment or mention the promo code PODCAST to receive $25 off any service or product of $50 or more at La Jolla Cosmetic. La Jolla Cosmetic is located just off the I-5 San Diego Freeway in the XiMed Building on the Scripps Memorial Hospital campus. To learn more, go to lj csc.com or follow the team on Instagram at lj csc. The La Jolla Cosmetic Podcast is a production of The Axis, t h e a x i s.io.