Interview with Dr. Małgorzata Lewicka-Kisiel on aesthetic medicine treatments and complications when such treatments are performed by unauthorized persons, e.g. beauticians and hairdressers Mira Hopf’s report was broadcast at 19:15 on Radio Koszalin and Radio Słupsk on April 26, 2018.
Part 1
Mira Hopf (Radio Koszalin):There are few doctors who are qualified as an aesthetic medicine doctor.
Dr Lewicka-Kisiel (Klinika Eskulap mmKisiel.pl): That’s right, there are very few aesthetic medicine doctors, and in Słupsk I am the only certified aesthetic medicine doctor, because I completed 3-year postgraduate studies in aesthetic medicine in Warsaw with a Polish medical society, ended with a thesis defense, I wrote about the Ion Magnum device, which is unique in Poland because I brought them to Poland here from America. It is not only an aesthetic device but also a health device because it can be used as a rehabilitation device, a device stimulating the body to produce thyroid hormones, i.e. improving the entire endocrine system, including diabetes, including thyroid hormones, the so-called gym for the lazy. Well, this is a curiosity, because we are not like that here in Słupsk, at the end of the world, we promote all kinds of new products and special devices that are also known around the world in Warsaw.
Mira Hopf (Radio Koszalin): Let’s talk about these new products that improve our appearance, the appearance of our face and delay the aging process at the same time.
Dr Lewicka-Kisiel (Klinika Eskulap mmKisiel.pl): You put it very well just that there are two kinds of treatments. I call it treatments improving the existing shortcomings and preventive treatments and these improving treatments, such as volumetry, restoration of youthful facial features, i.e. what the patient loses or we all lose during our life, and preventive treatments are treatments that maintain this well-being, i.e. various mesotherapies based on cell biostimulation. Aesthetic medicine is developing very beautifully, it is one of the fastest-growing fields at the moment in medicine, of course not offending other fields with a specialty, here in two years there is, for example, enormous progress in various types of inventions or in trials or research on substances or factors that can stimulate the human body to rebuild cells.
Mira Hopf (Radio Koszalin): At what age should ladies and, of course, gentlemen use this kind of aesthetic medicine help?
Dr Lewicka-Kisiel (Klinika Eskulap mmKisiel.pl): It is interesting that this is not about the record age, it is about the patient’s well-being, two about his biological aging process, and here the record age has little to do with it, because sometimes a young patient around 30 years old looks worse than not one forty or fifty year old truth . So the border here as if we are setting them, of course, underage patients are not offered any treatments except some kind of acne therapy, but we cannot say that only 25 years of age, for example, we do something, so this border is movable everyone will find something for themselves in aesthetic medicine, we can everyone suggest some treatment, whether it is skin problems, or hair problems, or problems with wrinkles or problems with fat accumulation locally, everyone will find a recipe for their own age limit problem. Of course, as I said, we do not do treatments for minors and children and we are very careful about a certain age limit above, say, 80 years old.
Mira Hopf (Radio Koszalin): All these procedures, some of them quite complicated, should be performed by a specialist doctor because if an amateur person unprepared for such procedures will perform them, serious health problems may arise.
Dr Lewicka-Kisiel (Klinika Eskulap mmKisiel.pl): Well, of course, you are absolutely right, as in any other field of medicine, treatments in the field of aesthetic medicine should be performed by a doctor, a well-educated doctor who knows the anatomy, innervation, the course of blood vessels and lymphatic vessels, any action of an unauthorized person or a person who does not know Anatomy is a big risk for the patient and we already have problems and we already have many complications resulting from procedures performed by unauthorized persons and I will not mention these professions because I have also encountered the fact that hairdressers are trying to perform this type of treatment. Polish law speaks unequivocally only a doctor and a nurse have the right to break the skin. People who perform these procedures from outside this circle do it illegally.
Mira Hopf (Radio Koszalin): Well, for example, injecting botox is also not such a simple matter.
Dr Lewicka-Kisiel (Klinika Eskulap mmKisiel.pl): You need to know the anatomy of the face perfectly to know which area of the muscle, because we inject botox into the facial muscles of one third of the upper face to create the effect that we intend to raise the eyebrows, for example to eliminate vertical wrinkles, horizontal forehead or the so-called crow’s feet, such smiley wrinkles around the eyes. An improperly administered toxin can cause many complications, including disturbing vision, drooping eyelids and raising the eyelid in surprise. These are treatments that must be performed by a qualified person, apart from the toxin itself, which is a prescription drug. If someone performs these procedures not in a medical office, he obtains a drug illegally from an unknown source, and this is already subject to drug trade and a dangerous practice that I believe should be stigmatized by law.