7.1 Client Intake Forms & Health History

7.1 Client Intake Forms & Health History

Quick answer: Complete a written client intake / health history before service, review it for medications (especially isotretinoin/Accutane and retinoids), allergies, pregnancy, herpes history, blood thinners, recent procedures, and sun exposure, update it regularly, protect privacy, and refuse or reschedule when history shows the service is unsafe.

Client Consultation is a small PSI National Esthetician Theory domain (about 4% of the exam), but it punches above its weight. Many Safety, Skin Care, Hair Removal, and Advanced Treatment stems still start with “the client’s history form shows…” If you cannot read an intake form like a safety checklist, you will miss easy points across the rest of the test—and, in practice, you will miss preventable injuries.

Purpose of the Intake Form

An intake form (also called a client consultation form, health history form, or client profile) is a structured written record the client completes and the aesthetician reviews before choosing products and procedures. Its purposes are:

1. Screen for contraindications that make a service unsafe today
2. Guide product and protocol selection (sensitivity, acne history, allergies, recent peels)
3. Document informed professional judgment—you asked, the client answered, you decided
4. Create a baseline for future visits so changes stand out
5. Support communication with the client about realistic goals and home care

Intake is not medical diagnosis. You use the form to decide whether a beautification service within aesthetician scope is appropriate—not to name a disease or prescribe medication. When answers suggest medical evaluation is needed, you refer and protect the skin; you do not treat disease under a spa label.

What Belongs on a Thorough Intake

Exam-level intake content clusters into personal identifiers, service goals, and health history relevant to skin services:

On theory items, the correct “first step” before a facial or wax is almost always review the client’s history / consultation form, not jump to product application.

Medications That Change Service Safety

You are not a pharmacist, but you must recognize high-risk drug categories that exam stems love:

MA PSI trap: Treating Accutane history as “old news” with no effect on today’s wax. National theory consistently flags recent or current isotretinoin as a major red flag for waxing and aggressive exfoliation.

Allergies, Pregnancy, Herpes, Procedures, and Sun

Allergies. Ask about latex (gloves, wax strips in some setups), fragrance, essential oils, iodine if relevant to products used in training, and prior reactions to peels, enzymes, or hair-removal products. A client who “always breaks out from mint lip wax” needs a different product choice—or a different service plan—not a lecture.

Pregnancy and nursing. Many salons defer strong chemical peels, certain essential-oil blends, electrical modalities, and aggressive protocols during pregnancy. Exam logic: when in doubt about safety for a pregnant client, choose the more conservative modification or postponement and stay within non-medical scope. You do not clear medical risk—you protect the client with caution.

Herpes history (cold sores). Facial services, peels, waxing around the mouth, and extractions can trigger outbreaks. A history of oral herpes is a consultation flag: avoid treating active lesions, and be cautious with aggressive perioral work when the client reports frequent outbreaks. Active blisters are a do-not-treat contagious presentation (developed further in Section 7.3).

Recent procedures and injectables. Clients often book a facial days after fillers, neuromodulators, medical peels, or laser. Intake must ask for dates. Typical professional judgment (exact medical windows vary—exam wants the principle): do not aggressively massage, heat, or exfoliate an area that is still healing or where product migration is a concern until enough time has passed and/or the medical provider’s aftercare allows aesthetics.

Sun exposure and sunburn. Fresh sunburn is inflamed, damaged tissue. Intake should capture recent tanning beds, beach days, and outdoor work. Do not wax or chemically peel sunburned skin.

Update Frequency

A first-visit form that sits in a drawer for three years is a liability, not a consultation.

Best practice patterns that map to exam reasoning:

• New clients: full intake before the first service
• Returning clients: brief health update at each visit or at a regular interval (many shops use every visit for key fields, with a fuller refresh periodically)
• Always re-ask after the client reports new medications, pregnancy, surgery, injectables, cold sores, or product reactions
• Before high-risk services (waxing large areas, chemical exfoliation, extractions): confirm the relevant lines again verbally even if the paper looks complete

If the written form is blank on medications and the client is about to be waxed, stop and complete the history—do not “wing it.”

Privacy of Records

Client health information is professional confidential material. Exam-level expectations:

• Discuss health details in a private consultation space, not across a crowded reception desk
• Store paper forms in a secure location; protect digital records with appropriate access control per shop policy
• Do not gossip about a client’s Accutane use, herpes history, or pregnancy
• Share records only with authorized parties as required by law, employer policy, or valid client authorization—not with curious coworkers for entertainment
• Keep records legible, dated, and retained according to business and regulatory record-keeping norms (Section 7.2 expands documentation duties)

Privacy supports trust. Clients under-report sensitive history if they hear staff chatting about other guests’ medical details.

When History Alone Means Refuse or Reschedule

You do not need a full visual analysis to cancel some bookings. History alone can force a no:

Pressure from the client (“I have a wedding tomorrow”) does not override safety. Document the refusal and the reason; offer a safer alternative date or a modified service only when truly appropriate.

Worked Exam Scenario

A client wants a full face and lip wax. The intake form lists isotretinoin finished six weeks ago, a history of cold sores, and yesterday’s beach day with a pink forehead. The aesthetician’s correct path is not “wax carefully.” It is: identify isotretinoin timing as a waxing red flag, note sun exposure/sunburn risk on the forehead, avoid triggering perioral herpes with aggressive lip work if contraindicated, and reschedule or redesign the service. The form did its job only if you read it before heating the wax.

How This Shows Up on MA PSI Theory

Expect stems that:

• Ask the first step before service (review intake/history)
• Name Accutane/isotretinoin and ask which service to avoid
• Pair pregnancy with product or modality caution
• Test privacy (where to discuss health history)
• Force a refuse/reschedule choice when history is unsafe

Client Consultation is only 4%, but these items are high-yield because they recycle into waxing, peel, and facial chapters.

Common Traps

• Skipping intake for “regulars” or walk-ins in a hurry
• Treating intake as a receptionist task the licensee never reads
• Ignoring retinoids and blood thinners on the form
• Performing service on sunburn or active lesions because the appointment is paid
• Discussing medical history loudly in the lounge
• Diagnosing from the form instead of screening and referring

Study Routine

• Memorize the medication table (isotretinoin, retinoids, blood thinners)
• Practice a 30-second verbal update script: meds, pregnancy, sun, cold sores, recent procedures
• Write three refuse/reschedule decisions from history-only facts
• Link this section to 7.3 (contraindications) and later waxing/peel chapters

Final Check

Close your notes and list: purpose of intake; five history items that change waxing or peels; when to update; one privacy rule; one history finding that forces reschedule. Clean recall means you are ready for release forms and documentation in Section 7.2.