Patient Education in Medical Aesthetics: How Top Practices Combat Misinformation & Set Real Expectations

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Announcer
You're listening to the Aesthetically Speaking podcast presented by Nextech.

00:00:13:03 - 00:00:25:17
Robin
Welcome Nextech listeners. This is the Nextech podcast and I am Robin Ntoh your host. And today we have Kassandra here from the Acclaro Medical. Kassandra, tell us a little bit about your role and what you do for this device company.

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Kassandra
Definitely. Well, thank you for having me on this podcast, Robin. My name is Kassandra Lepack and I'm the chief business development officer with Acclaro medical.

00:00:33:06 - 00:00:51:14
Kassandra
And we've brought to market the world's first cold ablative 2910 fiber laser. We'll dive into that. I know it's a mouthful. Yes, we'll dive into that in a little bit, but I've been with the company since October of 2021, and we launched the technology in April of ‘22. So very excited to be here at AAD.

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Robin
Very fascinating.

00:00:52:16 - 00:01:19:06
Robin
And you're right, there is a lot to go into there. But let's back up a little bit. We're live at the American Academy of Dermatology meeting. I think there's probably close to 20,000 attendees between exhibitors and their staff, as well as all of the physicians and their staff that have attended. Very, very big meeting. And I know you and I get to be on the trade show a lot with our respective companies, which means that we get the opportunity to see a lot of trade shows.

00:01:19:06 - 00:01:40:12
Robin
This is probably one of the largest. It's energetic. The positivity out here today is fascinating. A lot of engagement. So it's always fun to do these live and really get to see where they sit in the market and what's going on. And more importantly, I am not just seeing a lot of pharma here. And a lot of skincare, obviously.

00:01:40:13 - 00:02:09:02
Robin
This is dermatology, but the devices and we live in this world of technology and medical devices and we see where it's evolved over the arena. I remember and I'm going to date myself. Here we go. Laser hair removal, where I think a lot of this really started. And to think it is still popular today, to think that it still has a place in the market because people still have hairy legs.

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Kassandra
Exactly, exactly.

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Robin
And who doesn't want to have some sort of treatment that I don't have to go shave my legs all the time, right. So, we mean, there is a place in this market and technology has evolved so much. And as we think about how it's evolved, its impact and where it is truly, in my opinion, an area of driving the market and demand, because as technology continues to evolve and we see things like as simple as something like skin treatments, resurfacing treatments with devices where, gosh, I remember we're in a blade of laser was...

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Kassandra
Painful. Downtime. (For sure.) You look like a hamburger.

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Robin
Exactly. I mean, those images are still very there in my brain. Still, I can't I can't get away from them. So so from a device perspective, let's give our listeners a little history and context around it and then talk more specifically about where we think things are going to go.

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Kassandra
Amazing. Well, I'm glad you started off with laser hair removal because like I said, the average customer knows about lasers because of laser hair removal.

00:03:09:10 - 00:03:35:22
Kassandra
But I think the big thing in the big shift we've seen in the market recently is skin. You talked about skin companies being here. You talked about skin care and where technology fits. It really is in our company is skin rejuvenation. So back in the 90s, you know, everyone kind of knew CO2 as the gold standard. And that's where those vivid images of, you know, the downtime, the pain, you know, the redness, the erythema, the you know, people got scared.

00:03:35:22 - 00:03:58:07
Kassandra
People didn't want that type of downtime, especially nowadays. They want something that's going to be comfortable, faster recovery. So after insulin, the 90s then Erbium:YAG and Erbium:YAG was then now to treat a faster majority of patients with different ethnicities and with less downtime. But you still have a lot of, you know, blood, you still have a lot of redness.

00:03:58:07 - 00:04:03:13
Kassandra
And there are still some drawbacks to that technology. So in, you know,

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Robin
When you talk about drawbacks, that's an important call out. You said ethnicity too. That's an important thing to really hone in on because there is the Fitzpatrick scale, which you know, any derms going to be able to talk to that or anybody that understands skin. Lasers originally couldn't treat every skin color (correct) without having serious complications that came from it.

00:04:22:16 - 00:04:40:02
Robin
And then when you talk about that downtime with that horrible resurfacing, I mean, the outcome. Gorgeous. But people would withstand a facelift faster than they would withstand that resurfacing. And so to see where technology has evolved

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Kassandra
And that's exactly it. So our co-founders, Helen Fang, our CEO, and Shlomo Assa, our president, actually knew that there was an unmet need for results versus downtime and to treat all ethnicities.

00:04:52:16 - 00:05:13:07
Kassandra
So they wanted to come to the market with an ablative technology that was good and safe for all skin types. So I think there's this connotation in our industry right now that results. You need the downtime, right, to get the results that you want. Well, we've changed that at Acclaro. So we brought to the market the 2910 cold ablative fiber laser, which is the UltraClear laser.

00:05:13:08 - 00:05:33:05
Kassandra
That's our flagship product. We also have the AuraLux laser that we launched in April of 2025. So it's been in the market now for a year. But with that, we really wanted to target that unmet need. So we brought in ablative technology that you can now safely treat all skin types from one through six. You can treat them more efficiently.

00:05:33:05 - 00:05:54:03
Kassandra
You can treat them with less downtime than traditional ablative lasers and much more comfortably for the patient. That'll come with proprietary 3DIntelliPulse, the software, the hardware behind the technology, which we can dive into. But I think we've really touched upon a lot of the things that people were scared about, right, in terms of ablative technology.

00:05:54:03 - 00:06:12:23
Kassandra
So we really honed in on that and made sure that now they have a safe and effective solution to treat those skin concerns, whether it's acne scars, scars, pigmentation, fine lines, wrinkles, crinkles, you know, so we've really hone in on all of that. But we talk about that now, you know, those lines and crinkles around the eyes (I know).

00:06:12:23 - 00:06:20:06
Kassandra
So we're targeting all of that. The signs of gravity, the signs of aging. You can do all of this on one single platform.

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Robin
So let's twist this a little bit and let's talk about it from a consumer perspective, because a laser is going to provide, depending upon the device, depending upon the technology, depending upon things like budget and downtime or, you know, what you have in your life.

00:06:38:13 - 00:06:55:02
Robin
As someone that wants to have this done, what do you have that you can put aside? It's time to commit to this. So some people have time to say, I'm going to be I'm not going to be in front of a camera for a week so I can do a more aggressive treatment. Or there's those to say, you know what, I got to still go and be on camera.

00:06:55:02 - 00:07:14:06
Robin
I've got to be in the public facing I or I've got to get out. You know, I'm not just going to be grocery store ready. I've got to be party ready. So to be party ready, I don't have that time, you know. So I think about my own personal experience where I had a treatment done and I had to get really intentional about when.

00:07:14:10 - 00:07:33:02
Robin
Because, you know, I'm on camera or I'm speaking. And so to think about and so we know that that is something that a prospect or a patient will think about is when do I get to do that. And technology in the device industry is really given us those choices now. (Agreed.) Where we didn't have that before. It was like ablative or not.

00:07:33:03 - 00:07:51:08
Robin
And I think the second part of that is now we get to see where this is starting to inch into more of that permanent transition for someone. Whereas a lot of non-surgical treatments are temporary. (Agreed.) Let's talk about that.

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Kassandra
I love that you're going there. So for the patient, it all depends. Like you said, what is the downtime that they can afford and what are they looking to treat?

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Kassandra
First and foremost, the beauty of the UltraClear laser. It's so versatile. If you were to speak to any of our providers, describe UltraClear in one word, they would say versatility. And the reason for that is to your point, Robin, you have to be camera ready. You don't have the luxury of having days of downtime. So we have a procedure on the UltraClear called the 3DMIRACL, which are a lot of our providers are calling it the Red Carpet Glow.

00:08:22:14 - 00:08:39:05
Kassandra
So it's for, you know, people like yourself exactly that want to be camera ready in a couple of days. You look like you went to the gym. You're a bit pinky red for about 24 hours, and then after that your skin is just going to feel very dry and it's just going to slough off. So it's a beautiful treatment for those that just want that natural glow.

00:08:39:05 - 00:08:44:18
Kassandra
Everybody nowadays doesn't want to use filters on their phone anymore, but they want that filter look.

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Robin
That's a great way to put it though.

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Kassandra
It’s so true. So rather than having to use a filter, people want to show their natural beauty. They want to show their natural skin. So the 3DMIRACL on the UltraClear and on the AuraLux laser allow you to do that with little to no downtime.

00:08:58:15 - 00:09:11:22
Robin
What people are looking for, what's natural. We keep hearing natural and they don't want the hype of having to feel fake. So you really said that very nicely. They don't want that filter look, but they want the red carpet look.

00:09:11:23 - 00:09:19:09
Kassandra
Correct. And with lasers you're stimulating your body's own collagen, so it's not like you're injecting something. It's not like you're putting something.

00:09:19:09 - 00:09:39:12
Kassandra
You're injecting energy, you're injecting heat. And that's why it stimulates your own body’s beauty, your own body’s collagen. So it does make you look natural. It's not going to change the way you look. Right? Will it get rid of a wrinkle? Will it get rid of a scar? 1,000%. But the nice thing is it's from your own body. So I always, when I'm talking to natural paths or people, you know, they have a very holistic.

00:09:39:12 - 00:09:53:08
Kassandra
It is a very holistic approach when it comes to lasers. But if Robin, you were to tell me, you know what, I just want to come in. I want to be one and done. And, you know, I don't mind looking like a hamburger for a couple of days. We can definitely do that. We have something now called Laser-Coring.

00:09:53:08 - 00:10:11:03
Kassandra
And Laser-Coring creates cores of tissue. Think of coring an apple, right? Core is a tissue for those signs of aging, the signs of gravity and you really want to fix, you know, that turkey neck, the jowls, etc.. So we have that capability as well. You have a little bit more downtime, but again it's a little bit more aggressive.

00:10:11:04 - 00:10:13:19
Kassandra
So you can treat the more signs of aging.

00:10:13:20 - 00:10:29:17
Robin
I love that there's options based upon the consumer's needs, budget, and commitment. People want convenience. People want to know that it fits their lifestyle, as you've said. But the convenience factor, convenience, convenience, convenience but natural.

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Kassandra
As long as it works.

00:10:31:10 - 00:10:34:04
Robin
And that's key too. (Exactly.) And we don't always see that.

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Kassandra
Yeah, right. And I think that's the biggest thing. And again, speaking to your patients, understanding what their needs are, what are they looking to treat. Because to your point, you can treat so many things, right? You can treat the reds and the browns and the lines and in the scars. So figuring out exactly what your patient wants. But again, the beauty of UltraClear as you can do all of that.

00:10:53:09 - 00:11:18:19
Robin
One of the things that I think about with this is it's overwhelming to consume all of this information. So if I'm a prospect and I go in and I know what my problem is, that I want to get treated okay, I've got these fine lines around my eyes. So what are my options? So a great provider will use that as an opportunity to educate, to set good expectations, to really line up the different options available.

00:11:18:20 - 00:11:39:12
Robin
Do you want permanent or do you want temporary? Do you want that quick fix? Great. We've got the toxins that you can inject or perhaps fillers or there's peels or there's lasers. I think that this is a a continuum that actually helps bridge what I could try versus what becomes more permanent. If I want to think about reversing the signs of aging.

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Kassandra
I love that you just said that.

00:11:41:13 - 00:12:06:19
Robin
The patient feels like they're building a trusted relationship because there's a level of transparency with the relationship they're building. That trust is coming from that. And so the patient hears it in the practice, provider does a great job of providing a treatment plan, which we know is one of those new ways that practices, especially in the nonsurgical arena, is starting to really think about how they manage the patient journey, is that it may not be one treatment, it generally isn't.

00:12:06:19 - 00:12:23:22
Robin
And we know that there's got to be a plan. What am I options? But I may need to go home and think about it. I may need to go home and talk about my talk about it with my significant other or not. We know that a lot of times we keep it hidden. We don't always like to share those things as those stories.

00:12:23:22 - 00:12:48:20
Robin
Right? I could write a book, I'm sure I know I've seen I've heard so many things. But I do know that you want it to be consumable and convenient. I keep saying that because it's so important, and when patients can go home and open up their TouchMD app and see all the things that have been discussed and get really good information and education and see before and after photos.

00:12:48:21 - 00:13:06:02
Robin
Or maybe you see a video that walks them through it and they get to understand what is the downtime like or what is it like post-treatment. All of those things are there for them. They could even send their consents. (I love that.) All of that is there for them, and that's what I think is truly the next step.

00:13:06:04 - 00:13:19:07
Robin
When we consider where education and patient relationship management is going, it's no longer just what happens in the consult. That console goes beyond the office and back into the home.

00:13:19:08 - 00:13:27:15
Kassandra
Agreed. And I'm going to take a look at that. And what's nice about that is they get a customizable approach to them and their needs. It's not generalized for the public.

00:13:27:16 - 00:13:44:17
Kassandra
It's specific to them. And to your point, they're going to speak to their friends and family and make sure it's the right decision for them. But going home with that information, I think, is also crucial to getting your patients coming back to the practice, because then they remember, oh yeah, I discuss this with my provider. Oh yes, I needed this and they'll remember that and then book their appointments.

00:13:44:18 - 00:13:58:01
Kassandra
And it's always about combination therapy is when you said one and done. You know, I always say you can do injectables along with laser energy based devices. You can do skincare. You want to do all these in combination to get the best outcomes possible. (For sure.)

00:13:58:05 - 00:14:08:02
Robin
You know education is key and how the consumers take that education is key, but supporting our staff is key too.

00:14:08:04 - 00:14:29:18
Robin
Think about all the lists of services within a practice, and you bring in a new team member and you expect them to be experts. And you can't just be a provider expert. You got to be a front desk expert. You got to be a checkout expert. And if you're not an expert in all areas of what happens before, during, and after and wonder all my options, you're not going to win that patient.

00:14:29:18 - 00:14:52:08
Robin
And we put a lot of stress and pressure on our team members and staff, because we don't do a really good job of giving them these tools and making it easy. I love that we think about this. A partnership is a way to make it easier for our staff. And, and we also think about degradation of data and information as a transition.

00:14:52:08 - 00:15:12:04
Robin
So you bring in a new staff member and then you've got to train them. And even though your company may provide the resources to bring them in and train them, it still is helpful that in this age of technology, there is no reason why some of this should not be automated and already consistently made available to your staff, so they don't have to be the keeper of all of this information.

00:15:12:04 - 00:15:19:06
Robin
It shouldn't have to be that complicated. Take the stress off of your staff, make this easy for them, and make it a win for the patient.

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Kassandra
And you just said convenient. It's not just giving you for the patient, it's convenient for the practice. And that's what people are looking for. To your point, they have to hit the ground running, but to be able to do so they need to have the tools to be successful.

00:15:30:21 - 00:15:52:01
Kassandra
And that's why they're having this information with Nextech is crucial to the success of a practice, we do provide, you know, two full days of training. They get hands on training. But again it's a lot of information to digest. So if you have this readily available after the trainer or that company leaves, then they're going to be much more set up for success speaking to their patients about the technology of their treatment. So I think it’s just a fantastic tour.

00:15:52:01 - 00:16:14:10
Robin
So one of the other areas that I think is fascinating in this arena is that practices are constantly worried about how competitive the market is and its competitive. There's a demand people are looking for, whether it's a toxin or a filler or a laser, to correct whatever their signs of aging are.

00:16:14:12 - 00:16:37:07
Robin
What practices are trying to do is now compete with every spa or med spa or plastic surgery, dermatology practice because they're all within their rights to provide those services. But then at the same time, we're all competing. Practices with a differentiator, really going to win the day. And differentiation comes in many different flavors. And I think how you again, build a culture within your business is important.

00:16:37:07 - 00:17:11:10
Robin
How you actually represent treatments to your patients and how you educate your patients is going to be a true differentiator, because your patients can be your marketing mavens. They're the ones that really can drive that level of growth within your business if you treat them well and you really bring them along, and we do that well. When we think about using the information provided by device companies such as yourself and really leaning into all the tools that you give them, because you give them a plethora of information that they can use to market and to educate and to really do it well.

00:17:11:10 - 00:17:42:18
Robin
But then we stop there a lot of times, brochures gather dust. People don't necessarily want a brochure. It gets tossed as soon as they walk out the door. So I find this to be a really great opportunity for people to just understand that device companies such as yourself, that have got this great technology that we're learning how to incorporate and integrate that to provide the solutions for the practices like what we’ve done with TouchMD and to really give them the tool to educate flawlessly if they lean into it and then they get to differentiate.

00:17:42:19 - 00:18:00:18
Kassandra
Correct. They need the tools to be successful, like you said after that company leads. But that's the nice thing to even speaking with Acclaro. We have practice development managers that actually come to the practice after the sale, and that stay with the practice to ensure that they're, you know, they're converting their patients, their patients are educated. The front end staff knows what to say.

00:18:00:18 - 00:18:20:12
Kassandra
They're maximizing the technology. They're pushing the boundaries of what the laser can do. And it's funny when you talk about how you differentiate yourself, at Acclaro, obviously our technology is fiber laser. We say the future as fiber. And Robin, I say that because when you look at the past, when you had dial up Wi-Fi, it was slow, it was unreliable.

00:18:20:12 - 00:18:38:16
Kassandra
You picked up the phone, you disconnect. You know, your family members. Well, you switch from that and you went to fiber optics. So much faster, so much more reliable. We did the exact same thing with laser. We went from traditional lasers with articulated arms and mirrors and all of that, and we came to fiber laser so much more reliable, a lot faster.

00:18:38:16 - 00:18:47:02
Kassandra
So that's why we truly say the future is fiber. And we want to educate our patients, our practices to know that you can use fiber for the future of your skin.

00:18:47:04 - 00:19:04:05
Robin
And why deny the inevitable when technology is taking us there? Kassandra, this was exciting. I really appreciate that we got to dig into this. I love talking about devices because I am all about what is natural, but solution driven and not something that's temporary.

00:19:04:06 - 00:19:05:15
Robin
Thank you so much for joining us.

00:19:05:16 - 00:19:10:18
Kassandra
Thank you for having me, Robin. This is great.

00:19:10:20 - 00:19:33:10
Announcer
Thanks for listening to Aesthetically Speaking, the podcast where beauty meets business presented by Nextech. Follow and subscribe on Apple, Spotify, YouTube or wherever you like to listen to podcasts. Links to the resources mentioned on this podcast are available in your show notes. For more information about Nextech, visit Nextech.com or to learn more about TouchMD, go to TouchMD.com.