An independent consumer guide to non-surgical aesthetic treatments
What this site is. Before You Book is an independent publication about non-surgical aesthetic treatments — botulinum toxin, dermal fillers, laser hair removal, IPL, laser resurfacing, RF microneedling, and PRP. It is not a medical practice. It does not provide medical advice, book appointments, or recommend any provider or any city. It explains the evidence, the risks, and the questions worth asking, so that the decisions stay where they belong: between you and a licensed clinician.
Independent publication · No bookings · No providers recommended
Every clinical claim published here is cited to FDA labeling, peer-reviewed literature, or a named professional society such as the American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS), the American Society for Dermatologic Surgery (ASDS), or the American Academy of Dermatology (AAD). Nobody associated with this publication received or performed any of the treatments covered, and the site says so plainly. How every page is built is documented on the How We Source page.
Three doors
The site is organized around the three readers who need it: the person comparing providers, the person researching a treatment, and the person who already had one and is worried. Articles are being written and added now; each door opens as its pages are ready.
Door 1 · Now open
Vet the provider
Who is legally allowed to inject in your state, how to look up a license and discipline history in the public record, what a consultation should include, and what the 2024 counterfeit-toxin cluster revealed about prices that look too good.
Who is legally allowed to inject Botox and filler — and what a "medical director" actually does →
How to look up an injector's license, board certification, and discipline history →
Is cheap Botox a red flag? What the 2024 counterfeit cluster revealed →
The consultation checklist: what to ask, and which answers should end the appointment →
Door 2 · Now open
Know the treatment
What botulinum toxin, dermal fillers, laser hair removal, IPL, laser resurfacing, RF microneedling, and PRP actually do — the effect sizes the trials measured, how long results really last, and the risks, ranked from common to rare to catastrophic.
Botox and its rivals: what botulinum toxin does, how well it works, and how often eyelids droop →
Dermal fillers: types, real risks, and the emergency signs everyone should know before injection →
How long Botox and filler results really last, study by study — and the honest annual cost →
Laser hair removal: permanent reduction, not permanent removal — the numbers behind the promise →
IPL photofacials vs laser resurfacing: two different tools, two different risk profiles →
Door 3 · Coming soon
If something goes wrong
The warning signs that need attention now, treatment by treatment; who to contact — your own clinician, a board-certified physician, or the emergency room; and the recourse that exists: state medical board complaints and FDA MedWatch reports.
Not medical advice. Nothing on this site is a substitute for a consultation with a licensed clinician. Candidacy, dosing, and the management of complications are individual medical decisions and are explicitly out of scope here.
About this domain
This domain once belonged to a real medical spa. That business is gone, and this site has no connection to it — it treats nobody and books nothing. The full history is on the About page.