The postgraduate program in Aesthetic Biomedicine was never Dr. Michele dos Santos's first choice. Her dream, from the beginning, was the field of Imaging.
But contact with Aesthetic Health professionals changed her mind. Dr. Michele realized that, besides being rewarding work, since it promotes patients' health and well-being, entering this market would give her many benefits she wouldn't find in another field.
“I realized it was no longer the specialization in Imaging that I wanted to do. I wanted to be close to the people I would be caring for. I found Nepuga, enrolled in the postgraduate program in Aesthetic Biomedicine, and understood that this was exactly what I wanted for my life,” recalls Dr. Michele.
However, after a few classes, the postgraduate student's life changed and she had to stop her studies.
Learn about Dr. Michele dos Santos's story of overcoming adversity and how Aesthetic Biomedicine transformed this professional's life.
Aesthetic Biomedicine: a fresh start and the building of a dream
When Dr. Michele dos Santos decided to become an Aesthetician, she had found out she was pregnant. Since she knew she could set her own schedule and have more time to devote to her son, she chose the specialization.
“I was lost, I got pregnant and realized I couldn't go into Imaging because of the pregnancy. So I decided on the postgraduate program in Aesthetic Biomedicine. I found myself. I felt this was what I wanted to do, because I saw I could balance motherhood with my work,” says the postgraduate student.
But right at the start of her classes, in 2020, the Covid-19 pandemic arrived in Brazil and restrictions began to be put in place. Worried about her son's health, Dr. Michele decided to stop the postgraduate program.
“Everything changed because Covid arrived. I decided to pause this dream of mine and protect myself, since I was pregnant. Everything was very new, it was right at the beginning, we didn't have, here or anywhere, much information about this virus.”
Even taking every precaution, Dr. Michele contracted Covid, had complications, and went through the hardest moment of her life: the loss of her son.
“My husband kept working. Since it was the beginning, I stayed home, but some things kept running, including his job, which is in tourism. He got infected, passed it to me, and then… I had a miscarriage,” says Dr. Michele, emotional.
After the loss, she no longer felt like studying or working. The pause in the postgraduate program would now be permanent for Dr. Michele, who no longer found meaning in some areas of her life.
“After that episode I decided I wouldn't continue many things, and one of them was the postgraduate program. As much as I wanted it, I wasn't going to do it. But suddenly I reflected on it. After two months I realized I shouldn't give up on something that was also my dream.”
The postgraduate program rekindled an old desire in Dr. Michele: to promote quality of life and well-being. She realized that everything she had felt with the loss of her son could also be worked through aesthetics.
During classes, this vision became more and more concrete. Like some patients, Dr. Michele had lost her self-esteem. But with Aesthetic Biomedicine, that changed.
The transformation of the Aesthetic Biomedicine professional and of her patients
During the pandemic, Nepuga adopted the hybrid model for its postgraduate programs, with theory classes online and hands-on classes in person. When Dr. Michele resumed her studies, she decided to restart the entire specialization in Aesthetic Biomedicine.
“Something in me kept telling me to go back, ‘go back, go back, go back,’ so I went back, but I was still unmotivated. Over the course of the classes, even without contact with patients yet, I saw how good the program was being for me. I thought it would be a kind of therapy and that it could give a new chance to this dream of mine. And it was much more than that: I was transformed.”
Dr. Michele recalled how the classes, contact with other postgraduate students still in the theoretical cycle, and getting to know a new field made her feel good. The feelings she would soon be able to give her patients, she was feeling at that very moment.
“When I came back it was completely transformative. You transform as a person, as a professional, your self-esteem… and that's what leads you to transform another person more each day. Brazilian women are already beautiful, but we can enhance their beauty, be a fairy godmother. And I managed to find that gift within me.”
The confidence to work in Aesthetic Biomedicine through clinical immersion
The field of Aesthetic Health was something new for Dr. Michele. Even having contact with professionals in the field, she had no knowledge of it.
“I had no confidence at all in performing procedures before the hands-on classes. I got here and found people willing to teach me. Having a professional by your side, showing, correcting, supervising, makes all the difference. And I thought ‘why didn't I come sooner?’”
For Dr. Michele, the hands-on classes would not be held in units similar to advanced aesthetics clinics. The whole structure and direct contact with patients was new, but also an essential experience for her career.
“I didn't imagine I would have this structure, this teaching. Being able to have this contact, having a supervisor, all of this takes away our fear and gives us confidence. There are tools available here for all of us to stand out in the market, but that will depend on each person's effort and dedication.”
Expectations for the future: partnerships and networking
Even without finishing the specialization, postgraduate students who feel confident are already able to perform procedures outside Nepuga's teaching units. And that is Dr. Michele's case.
But for her, the main advantage of the clinical immersion and the interaction among Aesthetic Health professionals is not just being able to practice before finishing the postgraduate program, but the possibility of networking and partnerships.
“Today I feel confident working outside and that is very good, the aesthetics field is very broad and we all have the chance to stand out. But I see an advantage when we exchange ideas, when we come together.”
One of the benefits of the clinical immersion is the exchange of experience during the hands-on sessions. It is in this space that many postgraduate students find the opportunity to form partnerships and businesses together and offer the best to their patients.
“This is also a very good field if we come together, especially women. We can value ourselves, have partnerships, offer complementary services. We need to change this idea that it is a competition and see this market as a place of support and growth.”
Learn more stories of Aesthetic Health specialists connected to Nepuga.
Antônio Germano
NEPUGA content team — Núcleo de Especializações Ana Carolina Puga.
