Medical marketing is a problem for many doctors, but flaws in marketing strategies for aesthetic and cosmetic clinics make the difference between financial success and bankruptcy.

As a doctor, you may work a few hours a week but the virtual doors of your aesthetic practice should always be open 24/7. Using a variety of available web tools, a clinic can offer comprehensive information to the patients considering cosmetic enhancement and dermatology procedures.

Web tools help physicians reach out to patients to give them an abundance of information on the practice, its doctors and staff, and the procedures they offer by way of web video documentaries, graphic animations, patient testimonials, an updated blog, and detailed descriptions of treatment options.

If you start offering a new laser skin rejuvenation procedure, the best way to announce it is to post it on a nice, technologically advanced and user-friendly web page to convey detailed information and demonstration so that your prospective patients can have a better idea of what procedures entail.

Consumers are generally confused by the abundance of advertising and need help from the doctors they already trust to understand what new types of technologies are available and how they can help tighten the skin, erase pigmentation spots, resurface the skin to eliminate fine lines and wrinkles, improve the appearance of sagging skin, and put normal volume back in the face. The combination of all these new procedures allows to custom-fit each particular treatment protocol to what works best for the desires of the individual.

It might come as a surprise to many doctors, but state-of-the-art online marketing and advertising does not have to be expensive. In fact, online spend is the most cost-effective and measurable portion of your medical marketing budget.

Cellulite – the dimpled, uneven skin that mars the backsides and thighs of women everywhere – is a scourge to bikini-wearers and a squelcher of lights-on romps in bed. No wonder the search for a solution has women shelling out millions. Some of the new light was shed recently in a New York Times article by a few cellulite experts.

Miracle cures advertised on billboards and all over internet are greatly exaggerated. “At this point, there is no outstanding treatment for cellulite,” said Dr. Molly Wanner, an instructor in dermatology at Harvard Medical School and an author of an evidence-based review of existing treatments in 2008. A lasting remedy would have to address the interplay between skin, fat, connective tissue and underlying muscle.

Still, treatments abound, from contour-refining lotions and liposuction to massage machines with lasers and light sources. And there’s no shortage of takers. The market for cellulite-reduction devices in the United States was more than $47 million in 2008, said Amy Krohn, a spokeswoman for the Millennium Research Group. It is projected to grow to $62 million by 2013.

But no treatment has emerged as the gold standard. “Most studies show a 25 to 50 percent improvement after multiple treatments,” Dr. Wanner said. “Some patients have even less improvement, and the effects may go away over time so patients may require additional treatments.”

Cellulite is a telltale sign that life is a crapshoot. Most women get cellulite after puberty. But men usually don’t. That’s because the connective tissue bands under men’s skin are crisscrossed like a net, keeping their fat more evenly restrained. By contrast, women’s tissue bands are organized in vertical columns, so fat may bulge irregularly.

“At a normal weight your fat cells fall nicely into valleys of connective tissue,” said Dr. Michael D. Jensen, a clinical professor of medicine at the Mayo Clinic, who has studied fat for 25 years. “When you get too many fat cells or too big of fat cells now they push up on the roof.” Or, your skin.

What’s more, women don’t have as thick a roof as men, all the better to show dimples. And thanks to estrogen, women have more fatty reserves.

It doesn’t stop there. As we age, the connective tissue strands between our skin and muscle, which used to stretch to accommodate weight fluctuations, become inflexible. “Some of the bands tighten down and you get pockmarks with bulges next to them,” said Dr. Brian M. Kinney, an assistant professor of plastic surgery at the Keck School of Medicine at University of Southern California. Voilà, cottage cheese.

Traditional liposuction removes the fat, but it does not do anything to the inflexible connective tissue or too-thin skin. Laser assisted liposuction does a better job by heating and damaging collagen, which in turn causes connective tissue re-growth. New connective tissue is likely to have a much better flexibility and may result in tighter skin.

Cellulite is an uphill battle and no single treatment or laser modality can offer a complete cure. Cellulite reduction calls for a complex approach involving multiple laser and non-laser treatments and laser modalities. Few doctors can confidently claim that they have completed the puzzle.

Injectable treatments for wrinkles go hand in hand with laser treatments and we continue our coverage of this field as it is of interest to all aesthetic physicians offering laser treatments.

Dysport is an acetylcholine release inhibitor and a neuromuscular blocking agent, approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in late April 2009. Dysport has similar properties as the popular BOTOX Cosmetic®, which has been used in the U.S. since 2001. Dysport is approved for the temporary improvement in the appearance of moderate to severe glabellar lines (vertical lines between the eyebrows) in adults younger than 65 years of age.

The active substance in Dysport is a botulinum neurotoxin type A complex, which acts at the level of the neuromuscular junction in the targeted muscle. Dysport is a neuromuscular blocking toxin which acts to block acetylcholine release at motor nerve ends and reduces muscular spasm. As our skin becomes less elastic over time, repeated frowning creates visible lines and wrinkles. Dysport and BOTOX that relax the muscles by blocking nerve impulses. Once the muscles are at rest, the skin becomes smoother, creating a more natural and relaxed appearance.

Although only recently approved for use in the United States, Dysport has been used in patient care in the United Kingdom since 1991, and has marketing authorizations in 27 countries for aesthetic use.

According to the American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery, over 10 million cosmetic procedures were performed in the U.S. in 2008, 83% of which represented nonsurgical procedures. Injections of botulinum toxin type A have been the number one nonsurgical cosmetic procedure for the past five years, with over 2.4 million total procedures in 2008 alone.

It is still unclear whether Dysport is better than Botox. The major advantage of Dysport may be the price. Botox is not cheap: about $500. Dysport is about 20 percent less expensive than Botox, and that could be a potential savings for some people of over $100 a treatment.

Doctors warned both Botox and Dysport do have risks and should be only be used in healthy patients, who are not pregnant or breastfeeding. Potential complications include temporary eyelid drooping, headache and resistance to the medication.

Both products are not perfect when it comes to meeting the most desired feature of a dream cure: neither Botox nor Dysport last long.