Beauty Doc Blog

Most of the products and procedures in the cosmetic surgery field have gone through a type of “practice” or “test” round known as clinical trials. These are designed to ensure the safety and effectiveness of anything that is medical in nature. Here are some commonly asked questions relating to clinical trials.

What is a clinical trial?

A clinical trial is a supervised research study on the effectiveness and safety of different drugs, therapies, treatments and procedures. It is useful in determining the level of dosage of a drug required for it to work, the safety of a particular treatment, who is and is not right for a certain procedure among many other things.

What types of clinical trials are there?

Different therapies require different clinical trials to test their effectiveness. It is important to remember that any clinical trial should be supervised by a medical professional the entire time, and that it should involve checkups at a later date. Types of clinical trials include quality of life trials, which determine the best approaches to offering comfort to those with chronic illness; diagnostic trials, where the purpose of the study is to determine how best to diagnose an illness; prevention trials, which are aimed at discovering the best methods for preventing illness or a worsening of a current condition; and treatment trials, which test different methods of approaching a certain medical need.

What are cosmetic surgery clinical trials like?

Clinical trials in cosmetic surgery are often based on a treatment. For instance, they may involve long-term observations about a new type of breast implant material to compare it to current saline and silicone, or they may be more concerned with using already known substances like Botox for new purposes.

Who participates in clinical trials?

Once a procedure, therapy or drug is safe for use in humans, it will begin its clinical trials. Every trial has a set of criteria that outlines who can and cannot participate. In some cases, there will be gender or age restrictions, while in others they will have stricter guideline that may include lifestyle habits, previous medical history and other factors.

Are clinical trials safe?

If you are considering signing up for a clinical trial, be sure to assess how safe the study is. In the US, the FDA must approve every clinical trial before it is applied to participants, but there are still risks involved. Because it is a new procedure or a new way of applying a therapy, there may be some chance of illness, ineffectiveness, costliness or even life-threatening complications. Be sure to do thorough research into the safety, the history and the aim of the study and its therapy before you sign up.