How to choose an aesthetic practitioner in Singapore

In Singapore, aesthetic procedures that break the skin or deliver medical-grade energy are performed by registered medical practitioners. Before anything else, look the doctor up on the Singapore Medical Council's online register: it confirms registration, qualifications and the practising address. A beautician or 'aesthetician' is not on that register, and a salon offering injections, prescription-strength peels or high-powered lasers is operating outside its scope.

Qualifications beyond the basic degree are worth reading but easy to overstate. A postgraduate diploma or master's in aesthetic medicine or dermatology is a real credential; a weekend certificate from a device manufacturer is a record of attendance. Ask what the letters after a name actually are.

Volume matters more than reputation. A doctor who places tear-trough filler twice a week sees the complications, the awkward anatomy and the patients who should not have it; one who does it twice a year does not. Ask, plainly, how many of this procedure they perform in a typical month, and what they do when it goes wrong. A good answer is specific and unembarrassed.

For energy devices, ask whether the person setting the parameters is the doctor or a therapist working to a preset, and who will be in the room. Both can be appropriate; you should know which you are paying for.

A sound assessment starts with your concern and your history — medications, previous treatments, pregnancy plans, skin type, tendency to scar or pigment — and ends with a plan that may include doing nothing. It examines the face or body in motion and at rest. It explains what the proposed treatment can and cannot change, what the downtime will be, how long the result lasts and what maintenance it needs.

Warning signs: a plan that was decided before you were examined; a 'package' of sessions offered at the first visit; a treatment recommended for every concern you mention; and any answer that uses the words permanent, guaranteed, painless or no downtime. The reviews on this site mark those words for a reason.

Ask the device's name and whether it is registered with the Health Sciences Authority for the use proposed; ask the same of any injectable. Registered products are the norm in doctor-run clinics, and an honest practitioner will tell you when a use is off-label and why it is justified. Ask what is in the syringe and to see the box opened; counterfeit and grey-import filler is a documented problem across Asia.

If the treatment is one this site rates Caution — exosome injections, under-eye filler, 'fat-dissolving' injections, plasma pens — ask the practitioner to explain why it is justified in your case rather than the Established alternative. The explanation should be about you, not about the device.

Singapore's advertising rules keep fees off websites, so you will usually get the price at consultation. Price tracks the device, the amount of product and the doctor's time; it does not track outcome. A very low price for an injectable usually means less product, a cheaper product or a less experienced injector. A very high one buys an address. Neither is a safety signal; the assessment is.

Know before you start who to call, at what hours, and what the clinic keeps on site: for hyaluronic-acid filler that means hyaluronidase; for lasers it means a doctor who can assess a burn or pigment change the same week. Keep the product name and lot number. Complaints about a doctor's conduct go to the Singapore Medical Council; about a licensed clinic, to the Ministry of Health.