It’s Not The Arrows That Matter, It’s The Indian That’s Shooting Them.

OK I admit it – this is a golfing term, though probably one used in other sports and pastimes as well. To me it means that the equipment used is far less important than the skill of the person using them.

For example a golfer might say “I’ve spent $3,000 on these new wonderful golf clubs and the best balls, but my game has not improved”. To which his friend smiles and answers “That’s because your problem isn’t the arrows, it’s the Indian shooting them”.

The same is true of many things – a great photographer can take an amazing photograph with an old Box Brownie – others can’t take a passable snap with the latest Cannon. An artist can make a beautiful work of art using just a stick of charcoal, give the same charcoal to someone else and the result might be somewhat less pleasing to the eye!

In my line of work it’s very much the same I believe. With certain exceptions, most practitioners performing Cosmetic Injectables have the same basic tools – needles, syringes, anti-wrinkle injections and dermal fillers. We all have the same bow and arrows.

So the question is – when you go to have some treatment done, what are you actually paying for?

The answer is that you are paying first of all for the products that are used – you are paying for the bow and arrow, to continue the example above. This is all that many people consider in the equation. But the fact is that there is a lot more to it than that, because you are also paying for the cosmetic practitioner, in other words you are paying for the Indian. You are paying for this practitioner to utilise their experience, knowledge, expertise and training to get YOU the best result that they can. Although the tools used by different practitioners may be very much the same, there can be a massive difference in the practitioner’s experience and skill.

I have been working in this industry for over 18 years on the Gold Coast. One would expect that over this period of time we would have witnessed an improvement in the results that patients achieve, as we have developed our skills and abilities. I certainly believe that this is true of experienced practitioners both here at Envisage Clinic and at many other dedicated clinics around town. Unfortunately I have recently noticed an increasing number of patients who have had treatment at less experienced hands, and have ended up with sub-optimal results. In fact I am seeing more post-treatment problems now than ever, and I believe the reason is simply that there are more inexperienced practitioners dabbling in Cosmetic Medicine than there have been before.

Next week I hope to be able to discuss this in a little more detail, with an example or two to demonstrate exactly what I mean.