La Jolla Cosmetic Medical Spa - Carlsbad
7730 El Camino Real Suite C
Carlsbad, CA 92009
Call: (858) 788-7989
Monday–Friday: 8 a.m.–6:30 p.m.
Saturday: 9 a.m.–5 p.m.
La Jolla Cosmetic Medical Spa
9850 Genesee Ave Suite 380
La Jolla, CA 92037
Call: (858) 452-2066
Monday–Friday: 8:30 a.m.–5 p.m.
How To Read San Diego Medical Spa Reviews
If you haven’t looked at patient reviews when comparing medical spas, you’re in a shrinking minority. Studies show that reviews are a key deciding factor for patients when choosing their medical spa provider.
But not all review sources are created equal. We’re here to help you know what you’re really looking at. With some basic review-reading skills, you’ll be able to navigate the Yelpers and Googlers with confidence.
Testimonials, Reviews – What’s the Difference?
Look on any reputable medical spa’s website, and you’ll find a link to its patient testimonials. These are a collection of statements, letters, or notes that highlight a medical spa’s happiest patients. Reviews, on the other hand, include all patient feedback, not just the accolades.
Testimonials intentionally focus on the positive. There’s certainly nothing wrong with this, and a long list of heartfelt testimonials strongly indicates the services provided by the provider have positively impacted the patients’ lives. Just be sure you also read the patient reviews.
Put Testimonials to the Test
If you see a lot of generic testimonials (“My results are great!”), it’s possible that the medical spa’s patient pool is just not particularly verbose. However, these blanket statements don’t really tell you much about that provider or the type of care you can expect.
On the other hand, testimonials that mention specific providers and procedure details often imply a memorable experience and speak to the amount of personalized care that the patient felt they received throughout their care.
Who Wrote That Review? Recognizing Real Patient Reviews
We recommend looking for verified reviews before deciding on a med spa. Verified reviews are only from people who actually had a consultation or treatment with the provider. This ensures that what you see is a fairly accurate picture of that provider’s patient feedback. There are three hallmarks of a verified review service:
- Only actual patients can submit reviews. Each patient is provided a secure link after their consultation and treatment. This keeps just anyone from getting online and writing.
- Providers cannot dictate which patients are surveyed or cherry-pick patients to avoid negative reviews.
- The reviews and provider’s profile are up to date. This offers the most accurate reflection of a provider’s current patient satisfaction.
RealPatientRatings® is an example of a site with verified reviews. Here are links to our medical spa providers’ verified reviews:
- Verified reviews for Dr. Brahme
- Verified reviews for Dr. Riedler
- Verified reviews for Lauren Amico
- Verified reviews for Cameron Vessey
- Verified reviews for Julia Jowett
- Verified reviews for Kara Pennington
So, what about other popular resources, such as Google or Yelp? Each of these sites takes measures to screen reviewers by requiring a person to enter contact information and agree to certain guidelines. But, at these sites, no one is verifying if the people are patients of the provider they are reviewing. Still, providers can’t pay to enhance their reviews on these sites, so these are “OK” resources to get a general feel for patient satisfaction—as long as you are aware of the potential for false reviews by non-patients.
Here’s a Tip: regardless of what review sites you visit, take a moment to find out their data-gathering methods and user policies. In our experience, the most trustworthy sites make this information readily available to you on their “About” or policy pages.
What About That Negative Review?
Even the best aesthetic pro in the universe won’t make 100% of their patients 100% happy, 100% of the time. That’s just a fact of life. While a pattern of so-so reviews might make you think twice about a provider, don’t let a single 1 star rating in a large group of good reviews scare you off. Parse the language of any bad review to see if it sounds like a reasonable person with an honest concern. Read the bad and good reviews to get a sense of a med spa’s strengths and weaknesses, and overall patient satisfaction rates.
In sites which allow responses, consider how the provider or business responds to negative reviews. You can often learn more about the provider through the tone of their response. Is the response respectful, professional, courteous, and does it address the reviewer’s concern non-defensively?
When To Call for a Consultation
While reviews should play a role in your search, you still need to meet face-to-face with providers before booking your treatment. If most of the reviews give you a good feeling, go ahead and make the appointment. But if you get to the consultation and something’s not quite right, trust your gut and keep searching.