Price the return visit before you book the first one

A headline price tells you what the first visit costs. It does not tell you what it takes to keep a result, or what you agree to by coming back. That second number is the one to price before you book, and a reader in the Pocket can ask for it at every clinic below.

How the clinics line up

One count orders every clinic here, "Treatment types listed on the clinic website (of 8)", highest first, and Younger You Aesthetics tops it at 8 of 8, according to youngeryouaesthetics.com.

Just Aesthetics Md, K3 Health & Wellness and Pretty Please Aesthetics come next at 6 each, according to justaestheticsmd.com, www.k3healthandwellness.com and www.prettypleaseaesthetics.com.

At Your Best Wellness & Aesthetics Nursing Corp, Destination Aesthetics Medical Spa and Laser & Skin Surgery Center of Northern California list 5 each, according to www.atyourbestwellness.com, www.destinationaesthetics.com and www.skinlasers.com.

The clinics below them list fewer types still. A long menu shows range, not quality, so read each count as breadth and then check the terms behind it.

The Pocket Green Haven Med Spa Review is written by people who read published fee schedules, agreement terms and consumer complaint records, then tally the trade-offs. We hold that comparing options on total cost and staying power beats chasing the headline price.

Read the outside record first

Before you pay a deposit, read CBS News Sacramento's report, Call Kurtis Investigates: Medi-Spa Injuries. Then read Dermatology Times on a California law that targets illegal medspas. Both give background on med spas generally and say nothing about any clinic ranked here.

Where a clinic sits in the region

A repeat treatment means repeat trips, so the address matters as much as the menu. Visit Sacramento publishes a neighborhood page covering local restaurants, events and attractions that shows what surrounds one part of town. Inside Sacramento's neighborhood guide helps you place any other address on the map.

Using the guide on a return visit

Come back to scan the ordering, then open the page that tallies the choice in front of you. The microneedling providers close to the Pocket list sets the top of the ordering side by side on one treatment. The Pocket spots for IPL and BBL photofacials list picks up further down the ordering. Each clinic also has its own review that weighs its strengths against what it asks you to commit to.