Reader question
What should be brought to a first appointment?
A medication list, a short history, previous treatments with dates, daylight photographs and a question list; the whole kit fits on one sheet of paper.
Bring a written list of every medication and supplement, a short medical history, the names and dates of any previous cosmetic treatments, a few photographs of the concern taken in daylight, and a list of questions.
Bring a clean face with no makeup if the appointment may include treatment, and bring photo identification, since a first visit involves consent forms. That is the whole kit.
Most of it fits on one sheet of paper, and the sheet does more for the quality of the consultation than anything else a reader can prepare.
The medication and supplement list
Write down every medicine, including the ones that feel unrelated, and every supplement, including fish oil, vitamin E, ginkgo and high-dose turmeric, which can all raise bruising.
Include anything taken in the past month for acne, since some oral acne medicines delay skin treatments for a long time afterward. Include allergies, especially to lidocaine or other local anesthetics.
Do not stop anything before the visit on your own initiative; bring the list and let the provider raise it with the physician who ordered the medicine.
Medical history in one paragraph
A provider needs to know about autoimmune conditions, bleeding disorders, a history of cold sores, keloid or thick scarring, recent dental work, recent surgery, pregnancy or breastfeeding, and any prior reaction to an injectable.
A single paragraph written in advance is easier than remembering it in the chair. Readers with a complicated history can ask their regular physician for a brief summary letter.
Courts keep case files so a judge is not relying on memory across hearings, and the public-facing records system of the Superior Court of Los Angeles County is built around that principle; a consultation works the same way, with the paper doing the remembering.
Previous treatments, with dates and products
If you have had filler, toxin, threads or an energy treatment before, bring what you know: the product name, the amount, the date and the provider.
Old filler is the item injectors most want to know about, because product that is still under the skin changes what can be placed on top. If a past clinic gave you a product card or a lot-number sticker, bring it.
If the memory is vague, say so plainly. A vague history is more useful than a confident wrong one.
Photographs and the concern in your own words
Take three photographs in daylight: front, and each side, with the face at rest and no filter. Add one photograph from a few years ago if the concern is change over time.
In the room, the provider sees the face under clinic lighting, which flattens shadows; the daylight photographs show the concern as the reader sees it. Then write one sentence describing what bothers you, in your own words rather than in product names.
"The corners of my mouth look sad in photos" leads to a better conversation than "I want a syringe of filler here."
The question list
Three to five questions are enough for a first visit. Who will perform the treatment and under what license. What the provider would do for this concern and why.
What the risks are and how the practice handles a complication. What the total will include and whether follow-up is part of it. What the plan looks like in writing.
The answer to What questions should be asked at a consultation? expands on each of these.
The night before
Put the list, the history paragraph, the previous treatment notes, the photographs and the questions in one folder or one note on the phone. Arrive with a clean face.
If treatment is possible on the day, avoid alcohol the night before and skip the gym that morning, both of which add to bruising and swelling. Allow time; a thorough first consultation is not a fifteen-minute visit.
The folder is the point, and the same preparation applies at every consultation in the city. A last check before leaving is whether anything has changed in the medication list since it was written, since rules and lists both drift.
The Federal Register publishes a new front page every working day for that reason, and a patient's list deserves the same quick refresh.
How the desk checked this answer
This answer was built from the intake forms Los Angeles practices ask new patients to complete and from the patient-preparation guidance published by professional bodies in dermatology and plastic surgery.
The desk has no way of knowing which items matter most for a particular reader; for one person the medication list is everything, for another the photographs of a previous filler result are the key document. The safest approach is to bring all of it.
Nothing on the list is hard to gather, and the one item a reader leaves at home is usually the one the provider asks about first.
The answer, briefly
Put plainly: one sheet of paper: medications and supplements, medical history, prior treatments with products and dates, daylight photographs, and a handful of questions. Add identification and a clean face.
About
About the answer desk
Before The Needle is an independent Los Angeles publication with no clinic and no named clinicians. Nobody on the desk holds a medical license.
This answer was built from the intake forms practices ask new patients to complete. Which item matters most for you is something the licensed clinician who examines you will decide, usually within the first minute.
Follow-up questions
Should someone come with me?
For a consultation, it is a personal choice, and a second set of ears helps when a plan is being explained.
If treatment may happen the same day, a driver is a comfort rather than a need for most injectables, but useful after anything involving sedation or a long numbing period.
What if I cannot remember a previous product?
Say so. Many injectors can make a reasonable guess from how the area looks and feels, and some will use an ultrasound scan before placing more product. The past clinic may also have records on file if asked.
Do I need to bring payment or insurance information?
Bring a card if a consultation fee applies, and skip the insurance card; cosmetic treatment is not usually covered, and the answer to Does insurance ever cover aesthetic treatment? explains the rare exceptions.
Next, at the clinic
Questions to carry in
Gather the folder the evening before
Read the list once, and expect the provider to spend most of the visit asking rather than telling. The same folder works at any Los Angeles consultation, including one at My Aesthetic Doctor.