What Happens at a Kintsu Consultation

A Kintsu consultation starts with a complimentary, in-person conversation covering your skin history, current concerns, and goals, followed by a physician-informed assessment of your Fitzpatrick type and pigment risk, and ends with a specific plan you understand before any treatment happens. Nothing is performed at a first visit without that conversation happening first, and there is no obligation to book anything afterward, whether or not the visit ends with a plan you decide to move forward with that day.

This article is for anyone who has never been to Kintsu and wants to know what an actual first visit looks like, step by step, before they book one, especially anyone who has had a rushed or transactional consultation elsewhere and wants to know it does not have to work that way. It covers what happens from the moment you arrive through walking out with a plan, including the parts patients ask about most: how skin typing works, what pricing looks like, who you will actually see, and what happens if a treatment turns out not to be the right fit.

Arriving and the initial conversation

Your visit starts with a conversation, not a treatment. Pooja Shah, PA-C, who performs aesthetic services at Kintsu under protocols written and supervised by Dr. Saadia Nawal, MD, asks about your skin history, any previous treatments and how your skin responded to them, current concerns, and what you are hoping to achieve. This part matters more than it might seem: a treatment plan built without understanding your history, including past pigment reactions or sensitivities, is a plan built on incomplete information. This is also where you can ask questions freely, since a genuine consultation should leave you able to ask what a provider's experience is with your specific skin type before anything is decided. The American Academy of Dermatology publishes exactly this kind of question as something every patient should feel entitled to ask before a cosmetic procedure, and we would rather you ask it out loud than wonder about it silently. If you are coming in after a disappointing experience elsewhere, whether that was a treatment that did not work or one that left a mark you were not warned about, that history is genuinely useful information, not something to downplay, since it directly shapes what we recommend and what we avoid.

Fitzpatrick typing, done in person

We assess your Fitzpatrick type in person rather than relying on a self-reported form, because research directly comparing patient self-report to provider assessment has found meaningful discrepancy rates, with a patient's race predicting how likely that mismatch is. Getting this right matters clinically, since Fitzpatrick type is a starting input for device settings, peel strength, and treatment spacing, though it is one input among several rather than the whole picture. A newer review of the Fitzpatrick scale's use in clinical practice confirms both its continued utility and its well-documented limitations for skin of color, which is part of why we pair it with your specific history rather than treating the number alone as sufficient. This is a genuinely fast part of the visit; assigning Fitzpatrick type does not require special equipment, just a trained eye and a short conversation about how your skin has behaved historically, though we do not treat that first impression as final without checking it against your history and any past treatment response, since those factors carry as much weight as the visual assessment itself. If you have ever been asked your Fitzpatrick type at a different provider and given a number that never quite matched how your skin actually behaves, that mismatch is common and worth mentioning during your visit rather than assuming it was your own misjudgment.

Assessing pigment risk

Alongside Fitzpatrick typing, we assess pigment risk specifically: whether you have a history of post-inflammatory hyperpigmentation, melasma, or keloid or hypertrophic scarring, and how your skin has responded to treatments before. When it is useful, we use a Wood's lamp, a UV light that helps distinguish whether pigment sits closer to the surface or deeper in the skin, which informs both diagnosis and the timeline we set. This step is where a generic protocol becomes a plan built around your actual skin, and it is a genuine reason a first visit takes real time rather than a quick glance. Pigment risk review is not a niche add-on for a small subset of patients either: a clinical review of post-inflammatory hyperpigmentation found it affecting an estimated 65 percent of Black patients and 48 percent of Hispanic patients, compared with about 25 percent of white patients, which is exactly why this step is standard for every consultation rather than something we only raise if a patient brings it up first.

A consultation that skips your history and goes straight to a treatment recommendation is not a consultation, it is a sales pitch wearing a clinical coat.

Building a realistic plan

Once we understand your skin and goals, your provider builds a specific plan: which treatments, in what sequence, and a realistic timeline for results. Sessions rarely happen in isolation. RF microneedling typically involves three to four sessions spaced four to six weeks apart, and chemical peels often need a series of three to six treatments rather than a single visit, because meaningful skin remodeling is a gradual biological process, not a single-visit event. Where more than one treatment could help, we sequence them deliberately, since combining certain treatments the same day can raise pigment risk in melanin-rich skin even when each treatment individually is safe. We also talk through what downtime actually looks like at each stage, since a plan that sounds good on paper but does not fit your calendar or your tolerance for redness is not actually a realistic plan. Some patients want the fastest path to a result and are comfortable with more downtime to get there; others need to be presentable for work the next day and would rather take longer with gentler steps. Both are legitimate priorities, and a good consultation asks which one matters more to you before building the plan, not after.

Pricing is discussed openly during your consultation, and financing options exist for patients who want to spread the cost of a treatment plan over time. Our Fitzpatrick explainer goes deeper on how skin typing works, and our skin of color hub covers our broader approach to melanin-rich skin. Our FAQ page answers the shorter versions of the questions patients ask most before a first visit.

What we check at Kintsu

Every consultation includes an in-person Fitzpatrick assessment, a full history review covering previous treatments and pigment response, and, when useful, a Wood's lamp exam to inform diagnosis. We build a plan with a realistic number of sessions and spacing rather than promising a single-visit transformation, and we are direct if a treatment you are asking about is not the right fit for your skin or goals. Kintsu treats Fitzpatrick I through VI, and every protocol, regardless of skin tone, comes from the same physician-written plans and the same level of care. That structure, aesthetic visits performed by Pooja Shah, PA-C under protocols Dr. Nawal writes and supervises, is the same for every patient who walks in, whether this is your first visit or your tenth. Nothing about your consultation changes based on how experienced you seem or how many questions you ask; the same history review and the same honesty about what will and will not work apply either way.

FAQ

A good first visit gives you real information, an honest read on what will and will not help, and a plan built around your actual skin, not a script. That is a genuinely different experience from a rushed sales conversation dressed up as a consultation, and it is worth noticing the difference the next time you sit down with any provider, not only at Kintsu. Book your complimentary consultation and we will start there.