Your First Visit

Nothing is injected on day one.

Forty-five minutes on Third Avenue: intake, a face map, screening, photographs if you consent, and a written plan you take home. No product is opened. Nothing is sold at the desk. You leave without having spent anything.

Alder · Your first visit

Before you come

Five small things that make the half hour count.

Allow forty-five minutes. The consultation itself runs thirty. Intake takes another ten to fifteen, and it is not the part to rush.
Bring a list of what you take: prescriptions, anything over the counter, and supplements. Do not stop or change anything to prepare for this visit. Any change to a medication is a decision for the clinician who prescribed it, not for us and not for the internet.
Come with your face as it normally is. Makeup is fine; there are wipes in the room. We would rather see your ordinary Tuesday than a version prepared for us.
Do not book inside two weeks of something that matters: a wedding, a shoot, a long flight. If a plan comes out of this visit, the timeline should have room in it.
Write your questions down. Everyone forgets at least three. If you want a starting list, the field note on what to ask is written for exactly this.

The visit, minute by minute

What actually happens in the room.

One practitioner, one suite, one appointment at a time. There is no waiting room full of people, because there is nobody else booked while you are here.

00:00Arrival

The door, the desk, the water.

Third Avenue has metered street parking and there is a garage on Detroit a block west; give yourself ten minutes either way. The entrance is a single glass door between the florist and the optician. There is no lobby signage, on purpose. You will be let in, offered water, and handed a tablet.

00:05Intake

Your medical history, taken properly.

Medical history, current medications, allergies, prior aesthetic treatment, whether you are pregnant or nursing. All of it is recorded here, in the practice's own compliant records system, on our device. That is a legal medical record with an audit trail behind it.

It is the reason the request form on this website asks for almost nothing. A website contact form is not a place to put your health information, and any practice that asks you to type it into one has not thought about where it lands.

00:15The face map

You go first.

Mirror in hand, in your own words: what you notice, when you notice it, and what you would leave alone. The practitioner listens before proposing anything. Then she works through the face by zone (upper third, midface, lower third, neck), describing what she sees in plain language rather than in product names.

00:25Screening

The part where things can stop.

Aesthetic injectables carry real contraindications, and this is where they get worked through: history, medications, timing, prior reactions, and what you are actually expecting. Some of that conversation ends in "not this, not now," and occasionally in "not here." Nobody is treated because they made the trip.

Expectation-setting sits in the same ten minutes. No result is guaranteed, individual response varies, and anyone quoting you a number of months as a promise is guessing.

00:35Photographs

A baseline, taken properly.

Standardised angles, fixed lighting, no filters, no smiling. They go into your chart and stay there. They are not posted, not used in advertising, and not shown to anyone without your separate written permission. You may decline, though for some treatments the practitioner will ask for a baseline first, because without one there is no honest way to review the work later.

00:45The plan

Written down, and yours to take away.

What we would do first, what we would leave for next year, in what order, at what cadence, and what the whole thing costs. Emailed before you reach the car. No card is taken, no package is offered, and the second visit (the plan review) is booked only if you want it.

Four things that will not happen

The parts you were bracing for.

Nobody will inject you today. Treatment happens on a separate, booked day, after the plan has had time to sit.

Nobody will sell you a package at the desk. Memberships and series are explained on the memberships page and discussed at the second visit, never at checkout on the first.

There is no financing pitch. We do not carry a payment-plan partner, so there is nobody to pitch on our behalf.

There is no before-and-after wall. The book of work lives in the room and is shown by request, with consent, one page at a time. Not on a screen in a lobby.

Alder Medical Aesthetics

Third Avenue · Cherry Creek · Denver

Common questions

Asked at the door, most weeks.

Can I be treated on the same day if I ask?

As a rule, no. Separating the consultation from the treatment day is our own policy rather than a legal requirement. It gives you time to read the written plan away from the room, and it gives the practitioner time to review your history before anything is drawn up.

Is the consultation really complimentary?

Yes. The first thirty-minute consultation is complimentary and there is no card on file. The plan review a week later is $50, credited against your first treatment.

Do I have to have photographs taken?

You can decline. Photographs are stored in your chart in the practice's compliant records system and are never used publicly without separate written permission. For some treatments the practitioner will ask for a baseline before proceeding, because without one there is no way to review the work honestly.

Can I bring someone with me?

Please do. A second set of ears is useful and there are chairs for two in the suite. We ask that children are not brought to the consultation. The room is small and the conversation is long.

What if I am not a candidate?

Then the consultation ends with that answer, and no charge. Sometimes the reason is medical, sometimes it is timing, and sometimes the concern belongs with a dermatologist or a surgeon rather than with us. We will say which, and refer where we can.

What if I need to cancel?

Consultations are not charged, so cancelling costs nothing. We ask for twenty-four hours' notice because the slot is thirty minutes with the only practitioner in the building. Two missed consultations without notice and we will ask for a card on file before rebooking.

— Book the first one

Start with the conversation.

Send the request, and the practice replies with two or three times that fit. Same-week consultations are usually possible, and Saturdays fill first.

Request a consultation

Tue — Sat · 9 — 6248 E 3rd Ave720.555.0177consult@alderaesthetics.co