My practice manager Amanda and I did the Botulinum toxin and dermal filler foundation course with Dr Franks in July 2019 after hearing his lecture at the Irish Dental Conference. I had no experience with non-surgical facial aesthetics prior to this, but my practice manager had always shown a keen interest. The three-day course was held in London and I was able to bring Amanda along with me. She also acted as my model for the duration. We attended theory lectures coupled with hands on training. During the course I gained most confidence from dealing with Dr Franks personally.
The theory is pretty daunting, and when you think about the potential risks and complications it's hard to go back home and have the confidence to start treating patients. Dr Franks spent a lot of time teaching us how to minimise risks and also how to treat any potential complications. During the three days we both gained a huge amount of practical experience with
injecting and assisting others. Having my practice manager with me was also invaluable. She was given all the theory training along with the other delegates, and took over most of the assisting too!
After the training course I felt ready to start treating patients although it was quite daunting at first.
Amanda was a huge help and having done the course together I felt I wasn’t totally on my own.
My first paying patient was a friend of a friend who was interested in lip augmentation. She had
very small lips, and was also very anxious. Looking back, it probably was a really difficult case for the first one, bu
t we did it, and it worked out really well. After that we were hooked. I called Dr Franks most weeks during those first few months, and he was always there for advice and support. A few months after our course we decided to bite the bullet and launch our aesthetics room. We
turned one of the old surgeries into a treatment room, and held an open night for some of our
patients. We did live demos which was a massive hit with patients, and many returned for
treatment.
A few months after this I completed the advanced course with Dr Franks, and also the medical micro needling course. I have also attended other facial aesthetics courses on anti-wrinkle injections, and Profhilo. Amanda has just completed her six-month skin specialist course, and is now the examiner for skin philosophy delegates in Ireland. The pandemic has unfortunately slowed us down but also given us time to think about our future. We have decided to go into business together, and are preparing to launch our new skin and face business in the near future.
We are hoping to be able to focus on non-surgical facial aesthetics as the primary business, and
maybe some aesthetic dentistry on the side! Dr Franks also encouraged me to do an MSc in non-surgical facial aesthetics which I started last year. I think the foundation course with Dr Franks gave me a huge amount of confidence in this field, and an amazing framework to start from. I still have my course notes and they are falling apart at this stage from frequent checking.
Dr Franks also has become a mentor to me, and he always has time to chat and discuss cases. I love the new direction that my career has taken and am very thankful to Brian and Val for all that they have done.
Dr Emma Molamphy, Mayberry Dental Care, Dublin