Today you will get to know a little about the career of a physiotherapist whose training allowed her to work in different ways in healthcare, until she reached a moment of rethinking her career, when she decided to specialize in aesthetics in physiotherapy.
Although she is a physiotherapist today, Dr. Fernanda Leme's start in healthcare was through nursing, with a nursing course she took practically in her teens, following a direction she describes as intrinsic to her, since she was the only one in her family who chose healthcare as a training and career.
The echo of many other voices
Fernanda's story is similar to that of many healthcare professionals, because she too realized, as a result of the pandemic, that she needed a change in her career and no longer wanted to work in clinical-hospital care.
She talks a little about it: “The pandemic was very hard on healthcare professionals. It was right in that period – I was in the emergency department, the patients were super complex, it was a super complex period, with distance from family. It's that moment when we have to rethink the direction we want to take.”
So it was a very difficult time, and that is why Dr. Fernanda's story is so similar to that of so many other healthcare professionals. She decided she needed to open a window, she needed to reassess and, following the direction her own friends pointed out, telling her that aesthetics suited her perfectly, she began to research the field more and decided that yes, this was the path she wanted for her life.
Opportunities for the future
Today, she works in the emergency department of a hospital on a 12-hour-on, 36-hour-off shift schedule, in which she works twelve hours straight and the next day can spend more time with her children. She has also been dedicating herself to her postgraduate studies in aesthetics in physiotherapy.
Dr. Fernanda is very enthusiastic about her future after the career change, and is even already investing in equipment for her future clinic. She plans to start seeing patients next year, initially combining aesthetic appointments with her hospital work. But in the long term the idea is different: to truly dedicate herself exclusively to aesthetics.
Working with aesthetics in physiotherapy
Since 2009, Coffito (Brazil's physiotherapy professional council) has backed the specialty of Dermatofunctional Physiotherapy, which, as its name makes clear, covers both aesthetic and functional procedures, in addition to complementary practices.
More recently, an important advance in guaranteeing the rights of professionals who work with aesthetics in physiotherapy was put into practice with the publication of Ruling 609, of May 11, 2023, in which COFFITO establishes the legality of qualification for the use of botulinum toxin by physiotherapists.
Also read: NEW QUALIFICATION FOR PHYSIOTHERAPISTS: NOW THERE IS DIRECT BACKING TO WORK WITH BOTULINUM TOXIN
As for the use of botulinum toxin within physiotherapy, there are application possibilities that are distinguished by neurofunctional and dermatofunctional purposes.
Neurofunctional use offers auxiliary treatments in the recovery of movements impaired by conditions such as stroke and cerebral palsy.
In the dermatofunctional sense, the physiotherapist can use botulinum toxin to treat both aesthetic and functional complaints, such as reducing or preventing wrinkles and expression lines, treating hyperhidrosis and correcting facial asymmetries.
Thus, physiotherapy professionals like Dr. Fernanda have the chance to contribute valuably with their training and therapeutic experience also in treatments with functional, aesthetic and complementary purposes, offering even more ways of addressing the complaints that come to the office.
In addition, specialization in integrative health and aesthetics in physiotherapy gives professionals in this field even more autonomy and a broader vision and training, both for those who want to start a business and for those who want to offer the best to their patients.
Success Stories>Dermatofunctional PhysiotherapyLaís Bianquini
NEPUGA content team — Núcleo de Especializações Ana Carolina Puga.
