Assessing the Utility of a National Conference on Non-surgical Facial Aesthetics as an Educational Tool: A Survey-based Pilot Study.

[OBJECTIVE] Non-surgical facial aesthetics (NSFA) is a rapidly growing field involving the use of dermal fillers and botulinum toxin for aesthetic enhancement. The aesthetic injectables market is expanding, attracting interest from individuals seeking NSFA procedures. There has also been marked interest among healthcare professionals (HCPs) aspiring to become aesthetic practitioners. Conferences play a crucial role as educational platforms for HCPs venturing into NSFA. We used a national NSFA conference as an education tool for undergraduate and postgraduate healthcare students, assessing the utility of this conference in imparting knowledge on topics such as training pathways, regulations and complications in NSFA.

[METHODS] The FACExpo conference, held in November 2022, was organized by both qualified and aspiring aesthetic practitioners. Pre- and post-conference questionnaires were administered to attendees to evaluate their interest in facial aesthetics and their knowledge before and after the conference.

[RESULTS] A total of 68 delegates responded to the pre-and post-conference questionnaires. There was a statistically significant improvement in awareness of training pathways, regulations, and complications (<0.0001). Only 39.71 percent of delegates were aware of the NSFA regulations before the conference, which increased to 91.18 percent in the post-conference survey. Similarly, 38.24 percent of delegates were confident in their understanding of training pathways pre-conference which increased to 97.10 percent post-conference.

[CONCLUSION] This study demonstrates that facial aesthetic conferences can be used as an educational tool for aspiring practitioners and highlights the existing knowledge gap among current practitioners. Further research is needed to assess the overall impact of aesthetic conferences on the education of aspiring practitioners.