Home, Short Visit, or Ongoing Care: A Nurse’s Sort for Parents With No Spare Hour

Most of what gets called self-care does not need a clinic. Here is how I tell parents to sort it, and how long the clinic part actually takes.

By Sarah Hitchcox, BSN, RN

Illustration: a treatment room in the style of the practice’s West Knoxville offices. A short visit means a short visit.

I am a registered nurse in Knoxville, and I spent most of my career in the emergency department before I transitioned to medical aesthetics. The parents I see now have one thing in common with the ones I saw then: nobody has a spare hour. So when someone tells me they “should really do something for themselves,” my first question is not what. It is where it fits.

Almost everything people mean by skin care and self-care lands in one of three: things that stay at home, things that are a short visit, and things that are an ongoing program. Prioritizing them first is what makes the rest fit.

What stays at home

This is the biggest bucket, and it is not always the cheapest. Medical-grade skincare is still an investment, and it is the foundation of a healthy skin barrier. It is the most important part, even if it is not the cheapest. A good cleanser, a vitamin C serum with SPF in the morning, and retinol at night are the three core products every patient should be using. That is two minutes at the sink, twice a day.

The mistake I see is the nine-step routine that gets done twice and then abandoned. A routine you keep at 10 p.m. with a toddler on your hip beats a better one you skip. No clinic visit replaces this part, and I would not let anyone tell you otherwise.

What is a short visit

Some patient concerns genuinely need to be addressed by a medical provider, and most of those take less time than the school pickup line.

Neurotoxins (Botox) is a great example, and one of our most popular services. At Sarah Hitchcox Aesthetics, the treatment itself takes about 10 to 15 minutes, though you’ll want to avoid working out the day of, skip lying down for about 4 hours after injections, and hold off on facials or massaging the treated area for the following 10 days. I perform every treatment myself. The areas people ask about most are forehead lines, the “11s” between the brows, and crow’s feet. We provide free consultations for patients at both offices, Bearden and Farragut.

The home bucket: the part no clinic replaces, done at the sink twice a day.

If your question is specifically about the neurotoxins, Botox, Dysport, or Jeuveau, and which one suits you, Botox Knox Med Spa in West Knoxville covers exactly that, including lip flips and masseter botox treatments. We see patients in the Farragut, Maryville, Oak Ridge, and Hardin Valley.

What is an ongoing treatment program, not a visit

Medical weight loss is the one I want parents to be honest with themselves about before they book. It is not a single appointment.

At Knoxville Weight Loss Clinic, the physician-supervised program starts with a medical evaluation that reviews your health history and runs labs. Then comes a plan built around semaglutide or tirzepatide with nutrition guidance, and then regular check-ins to monitor progress and adjust the dose. Each check-in is short. But they repeat, and the program only works if you show up for them. If the next few months have no room for a recurring appointment, it is better to wait than to start and stop treatment.

What needs a longer conversation first

Laser hair removal, laser skin revitalization, skin tightening, and microneedling are all things my practice offers, and none of them is something I would want a busy parent to book blind. The right plan depends on your skin and on what your calendar can absorb. Microneedling is a fantastic treatment for improving skin quality, so if you are only going to choose one thing to address multiple concerns, that paired with medical-grade skincare is a great place to start. 

How I would actually fit it in

Pick the bucket before you pick the treatment. Do the home bucket tonight; it costs nothing to start. If a short visit is what you want, both offices are in West Knoxville, and a 15-minute treatment slots into a morning far more easily than most parents expect, though the free consultation itself runs closer to 45 minutes. If it is an ongoing program, look at the next three months honestly and book only if the check-ins fit.

And if none of it fits right now, that is a real answer too. None of this is required. The point of sorting it is so the part you choose is the part you can keep.