You wake up on the morning of your appointment with a sore throat and that particular heaviness behind
the eyes. The appointment took three weeks to get. You feel reasonably functional. You consider just
going.
Please call us instead.
This is a short piece about what actually happens when you do, because the uncertainty is usually what
pushes people into coming in anyway.
Call first — it genuinely works out better for you
The thing most people expect is a penalty. What actually happens is a conversation.
We will ask what your symptoms are, how long you have had them, whether you have a fever, and whether
you know what you have been exposed to. Based on that there are three likely outcomes: keep the
appointment, move it, or come in with some adjustments to what we do that day.
You do not have to self-diagnose before calling. "I woke up feeling rough and I do not know what it is"
is a completely normal way to start that call.
Why some treatments are better moved
This is the part worth understanding, because it is not arbitrary.
Some services are simply less comfortable when you are congested or feverish — anything where you are
lying flat for a while, for instance. Some are better assessed when your skin and your system are at
baseline rather than mid-illness, because otherwise neither you nor your provider can tell what is the
treatment and what is the virus. And some are a clinical judgment call that depends on what you have,
how you are doing, and your history.
That last category is exactly why we screen beforehand rather than working it out when you are already
in the chair. It is a better use of your time and it produces a better decision.
The person in the next chair
The other half of it is not about you.
A med spa is a sequence of people in close contact in enclosed rooms, several of whom may be
immunocompromised, pregnant, or caring for someone who is. Nobody announces that at reception.
Calling ahead lets us schedule around it — a different time, a different room, a different order. It is
a small thing that matters more than it looks.
What about the cancellation fee?
Being straightforward about this, because it is the real reason people turn up unwell.
Our Functional Health terms currently list a $150 fee for appointments cancelled within 24 hours or
for no-shows. That exists to protect appointment slots, which are genuinely scarce.
Call us anyway. Explain what is going on. A policy is not the same as a conversation, and the worst
version of this is someone sitting in our waiting room with influenza because they were worried about a
charge. If you are unwell on the day, pick up the phone and let us work it out with you.
(If you are reading this some time after it was published, confirm the current terms with the clinic —
policies change.)
When we are not the right door at all
Worth saying clearly.
If you think you might have influenza or COVID-19, the useful call is to your physician or urgent care,
and it is worth making early. There is a window in which antiviral medication works best, and it is at
the beginning of the illness rather than once you have waited it out for a few days.
Nothing at a med spa substitutes for that. We will tell you the same thing if you ask us.
The same applies if you are getting worse after starting to improve, if you are struggling to breathe,
or if you are in a higher-risk group and unsure. Those are physician conversations, not aesthetic ones,
and we would far rather point you there than keep an appointment.
What to do if you are already in the diary
A simple version:
Feeling unwell the day before or the morning of — call us. We will tell you whether to come.
Someone at home is unwell but you feel fine — tell us at check-in so we can adjust.
Recovering from something — mention it at the appointment. It changes what is sensible to do that
day and gives your provider useful context.
Possible flu or COVID-19 — physician or urgent care first, early, and we will move your appointment.
Our Philadelphia and Radnor teams would far rather reschedule you than have you come in and feel worse
for it, or pass it on. Moving an appointment is easy. Phone us.
General patient education. Not a substitute for medical advice, diagnosis or treatment from your
provider. Policies and terms are current at the time of writing; confirm with the clinic. If you may
have influenza or COVID-19, contact your physician early — some treatments work best when started
promptly.
