Before, During, After Chemo: The Patient Journey Most Aesthetic Practices Aren’t Built to Handle

The episode explores how aesthetic patient experience changes when appearance-related changes are caused by cancer treatment rather than elective procedures.

Angie introduces Deborah A. McDowell, Founder and CEO of Oncology Aesthetics & Wellness, whose work focuses on supporting women through medical hair loss.

The discussion centers on designing care around preparation, trust, dignity, and control before, during, and after chemotherapy. Pasted text

[View Transcript]

So for most aesthetic patients, an appointment is elective. But imagine walking into the same environment knowing your appearance is about to change from a treatment you never chose. That puts every promise we make about patient experience, personalization, and trust under a very different kind of pressure.

Welcome back to the Business of Aesthetics podcast. I'm your host, Angie.

Today, I'm joined by Deborah A. McDowell, Founder and CEO of Oncology Aesthetics & Wellness. Deborah has spent more than two decades across beauty, wellness, aesthetics, and practice operations. And since 2016, her work has focused on helping women navigate one of the most emotionally complex side effects of cancer treatment, medical hair loss.

Her team has built a patient journey around what happens before chemotherapy begins, while treatment is underway, and during the transition back into hair growth and restoration.

So today, we're going inside that journey. We're talking about how you prepare someone for a change they never asked for, how you create trust when that patient is at her most vulnerable, and what every aesthetic practice owner can learn from designing care around dignity and control.

This episode is brought to you by Ekwa Marketing. Deborah, welcome to the Business of Aesthetics.

Thank you for having me, Angie. I'm happy to be here.

Deborah explains that the first consultation should begin with emotional connection rather than immediately discussing services or solutions.

Listening allows the team to understand the client's fears and questions before explaining what to expect from hair shedding and restoration.

Clear education helps transform an unfamiliar and frightening experience into a structured journey the client can understand. Pasted text

[View Transcript]

All right, let's get into the conversation. Now, Deborah, when a woman comes to you before chemotherapy begins, how do you structure that first consultation so she leaves feeling like she has a plan rather than another problem to solve?

Typically, when a client comes in, I try to refer to them as clients versus patients. When they come to the treatment center, the first greeting is that of a silence and a hug because they're walking into an unfamiliar environment, they're nervous, and they're unsure of the process.

So once we greet them and there's a hug that occurs, it kind of softens the encounter and the experience.

Once we start speaking with the client, we listen so that they can share their fears and have questions that we can answer. Everything becomes about a connection initially when they first walk into the treatment center so they can, again, feel safe.

We start the process after listening to them by explaining what to expect in regard to when the hair will start to shed and at what point they will need to prepare for a wig.

If they're deciding on preserving their own hair, we walk them through their options for that. But again, the start of the journey is that of connection and that of listening.

Deborah says patients regain a sense of control when they know what will happen and when they need to act.

Hair preservation and repurposing options allow women to maintain a stronger connection to their identity during chemotherapy.

Providing information before hair loss occurs makes patients feel prepared rather than reactive. Pasted text

[View Transcript]