Somebody comparing clinics for a course of regenerative injections in central London can reasonably collect quotes several hundred pounds apart. The instinctive reading is that one clinic is expensive and another is good value, or that the cheaper one is cutting corners.
Both readings are usually wrong. The far more common explanation is that the two numbers describe different things, and that nobody has made it easy for you to notice.
The six questions
1. Is this per session or per course?
The single most important question, and the one most often left ambiguous. This class of treatment is given as a course, normally three sessions and sometimes four, spaced two to three weeks apart.
A clinic quoting a per-session figure and a clinic quoting a per-course figure produce numbers that cannot be compared at a glance, and the per-session figure will always look better. Multiply it out before you form any view.
2. What counts as one area?
There is no standard definition. Under-eyes might mean both eyes or one. Face might mean cheeks and around the mouth, or it might mean the full face including forehead and jawline. Neck might or might not include the upper chest.
Ask for the areas to be written down specifically. Two quotes for the face where one includes the neck and the other does not are not a comparison.
3. Is the review included?
Results from this treatment are judged around eight weeks after the first session. That review is a real appointment and it is where the decision gets made about whether anything further is needed.
Some clinics build it into the course price. Others charge for it as a separate consultation. It is a meaningful difference in the total and it is rarely volunteered.
4. What happens if more product is needed?
Sometimes an area needs more than the plan anticipated. Ask what that costs and who decides. A plan where any additional product is charged at full rate, decided mid-course, is a plan with an open end on it.
5. Is the consultation charged, and is it redeemable?
Counterintuitively, a charged consultation is often the better sign. A clinic charging for assessment time can afford to tell you that you do not need the treatment. A free consultation is not free at all, it is recovered inside the treatment price, and it creates an incentive to convert.
Many clinics that charge will redeem the fee against treatment if you go ahead. Ask.
6. Who is actually treating me, and at what rate?
In a clinic where several practitioners work, the price frequently varies by who holds the needle. Establish whether the quote is for the person who assessed you, and whether the same person will do every session of the course. For a treatment given over two months, continuity is worth something.
Take the plan away
Whatever the numbers say, the practical rule is this: leave with the plan in writing and read it somewhere that is not the clinic.
A written plan should name the areas, the number of sessions, the intervals, whether the review is included, and the total. If it does not, it is not a plan, it is a price.
Reading it elsewhere matters more than it sounds. A fortnight between assessment and first treatment is the interval commonly recommended for elective cosmetic procedures, and nothing about this treatment is urgent enough to shorten it. A discount that expires when you leave the room is not a discount, it is a mechanism for preventing exactly the comparison this article is describing.
What price does not tell you
Very little, in either direction.
The most expensive quote in a district is not the most skilled practitioner, and cheap is not automatically a warning. The cost base of a converted townhouse and a room hired by the session are genuinely different, and both prices reflect the rent before they reflect the person.
Price is the last thing to compare, and only after the six questions above have made the numbers describe the same thing. Until then you are not comparing quotes. You are comparing formats.
Frequently asked questions
Why do two clinics quote such different prices for the same treatment?
Usually because they are not quoting for the same thing. One figure may be per session and the other per course of three. One may cover a single area and the other the whole face. Review appointments, top-ups and consultation fees may be included in one and charged separately by the other. Establish what each number contains before comparing them.
Should a quote be per session or per course?
Either is legitimate, but you need to know which you are looking at, because a course is typically three or four sessions. A per-session figure that looks competitive can be the more expensive option once multiplied out. Always ask for the total cost of the complete plan including any review appointment.
Is a consultation fee a bad sign?
Usually the opposite. A clinic charging for assessment time has less incentive to convert every consultation into a treatment, and free consultations are often a sales appointment by another name. Most clinics that charge will redeem the fee against treatment if you decide to proceed, so ask whether that applies.
What should a written treatment plan contain?
The specific areas being treated, the number of sessions, the interval between them, whether a review appointment is included, what happens and what it costs if more product is needed, and the total price of the whole plan. If any of those are missing, the quote is not yet complete enough to compare with another one.