aestEthics: an Aesthetic Medicine that preserves the beauty and uniqueness of the person

Driven by social media, inapplicable trends and distorted beauty models are emerging that push patients to seek unrealistic aesthetic standards, which are incompatible with their specific morphology. Never before has the role of the Aesthetic Medicine specialist been more crucially important in knowing how to redirect the patient towards a path that must not be an “aesthetic routine” action, but a proper clinical practice in all respects. An Aesthetic Medicine that enhances the uniqueness and beauty of the person, without distortions, focusing on preserving rather than changing, always seeking an aesthetic that is holistic health, and not just appearance.

To fully understand this phenomenon, IBSA developed two initiatives focused on the involvement of patients and doctors: the publication of the Consensus Paper and the aestEthics awareness campaign. The objective – to be pursued with the help of the specialists, true ambassadors of a more ethical Aesthetic Medicine – is indeed to inspire awareness among patients, by indicating opportunities and limits of intervention, without nurturing unrealisable expectations.

The Consensus Paper The Aesthetic Medicine: International Dialogue on the Relationship between Medicine, Beauty and Ethics

The Consensus Paper addresses the ethical aspects of Aesthetic Medicine, with the purpose of making recommendations aimed at defining more clearly the opportunities and limits of intervention. Born from the meeting of a board of international experts, the Document lays the foundations for a debate on the ethical issues of Aesthetic Medicine, such as the need to ratify a practice centred on the safety, listening and attention to the patient, and the ability to “say no”, to the advantage of a more conservative and harmonious approach. Patients should be informed and educated on the therapeutic paths to undertake and, if necessary, led in another direction, in order to obtain the best results.

“With this project”, explained Maria Bisogni, Global Marketing & Communication Manager of IBSA’s Dermoaesthetics division, “we want to collaborate even more closely with both doctors and Scientific Societies to promote the ethics of Aesthetic Medicine as an actual medical treatment, while preserving the uniqueness of each individual”.

“aestEthics”: the awareness campaign between ethics and aesthetics

Launched in late October 2023 with the support and involvement of the leading Italian Aesthetic Medicine Scientific Societies (SIME and AGORÀ) and the backing of the International Society of Aesthetic Plastic Surgery (ISAPS), the aestEthics awareness campaign is focused on the specialist, as the only responsible person qualified to convey trust to patients and to ensure an ethical approach to Aesthetic Medicine.

The collaboration with the two Scientific Societies will materialise through the creation of frontal lessons on ethics, which will be included in the training programme of the two major Aesthetic Medicine schools in Italy – Agorà and the Scuola di Medicina Estetica – Fondazione Fatebenefratelli, in collaboration with SIME – and will be held on March 20 in Rome and April 23 in Milan, respectively. Indeed, Aesthetic Medicine schools – with their broad and complex approach to training – are a central sharing place for this project.