Patients and clients expect the very best from their carers and healthcare professionals and there is every reason for those expectations to be matched. So when patients elect for aesthetic or anti-ageing interventions, what influences their choice of surgeon or aesthetic provider? You would be forgiven for thinking that it’s qualifications, experience, an attractive website or a good price. Most clients, however, value training and expertise to be the key to choosing who to help them.

Against this backdrop of training expectations from potential clients and patients, the Clinical Cosmetic & Reconstructive (CCR) Expo (www.ccr-expo.com) will launch, for the first time, a surgical training dome intended to support and advise on all aspects of clinical, cosmetic and reconstructive interventions.

As a Consultant Plastic Surgeon, previous Regional Surgical Advisor for the RCSEd and Surgical Training Lead for the Training Dome, I feel that demonstrating and building confidence amongst clients is vital to any thriving practice, The Surgical Training Dome will help to advance the practical skills and specialist aesthetic concepts needed to deliver the very best for patients. The dome will cover micro surgery, 3D imaging, facial injecting and live mark up.

Delegates will have an exclusive encounter with leading experts and will have access to some of the best kept secrets of master surgeons’ thinking, as well as technical tips and pearls for many aesthetic procedures.

Running from 10–11 October at Olympia in London, the Surgical Training Dome is the first of its kind, with five fully interactive hands-on pods where delegates will be guided by experts in everything from microsurgery to facial injecting.

For non-surgical treatments the industry is largely unregulated, with some clinics offering cut price cosmetic deals, which is contrary to the guidance from Sir Bruce Keogh. However, there is training available for aesthetic practitioners from academies, such as the Academy of Aesthetic Excellence and the Academy of Advanced of Aesthetics.

According to Barbara Freytag from the Academy of Advanced Aesthetics, as the market has grown, so have the dangers. The speed at which this has taken place has outpaced the understanding of the governing bodies and authorities. If we do not get a grip on this there will be accidents and there will in all likelihood be a period of regulatory over-reaction to the detriment of the industry. A great part of the answer lies in better training, more needs to be done and the range of training available needs to be expanded, but the experience and expertise required to provide this is also in short supply. If the industry does not take a more proactive position in regulating itself before the problems become even more serious, then there is a real and growing danger of both more accidents and heavy handed over-regulation.

So the simple answer to the question, ‘how much training is enough training?’ is that one can never have enough training, but there must be a minimum level for any practitioner in the industry.