UNDERSTANDING FACIAL AESTHETICS
Patients almost always book to see an injector with a specific area or areas of their face that they want to improve. But facial ageing is more complicated that simple lines or wrinkles and often the area that you can see in the mirror is a symptom of something more global that's changed.
If you have a look at your own face, most people notice the obvious or most distracting features like some wrinkles or the heaviest 'folds' of the face. But treating only the wrinkles or lines rarely improves the overall look of someones face, and so very commonly leads to disappointment. In some cases, it even leads to the area looking more heavy, 'unnatural' or older. So instead, we need to think of the lines as symptoms of an underlying and much more fundamental change to the facial features.
Facial harmony
Whether you're concerned about a few minor wrinkles or have more significant signs of ageing, it's important to understand that it's the combination and harmony of all of your features together that determine your overall look. Expert injectors don't usually treat small and isolated areas of the face - it's too simplistic and often looks unnatural because the area treated won't blend in with the surrounding anatomy. The classic example of this is lip treatments that don't suit the rest of the face.
A different approach of treating a face is to:
- correct the 'foundations' of facial ageing first, ensuring that the basic structure of your face is well supported
- next improve the 'contour' the face, often working on the lower face, chin, jawline and temples to restore the 'frame' of the face
- finally refinements of the fine details can be done to beautify and amplify your overall look (including the lips, tear troughs and naso-labial folds)
The sum of these improvements (but not one treatment in isolation) adds up to what we generically call 'beauty'.
MD Codes™
The MD Codes™ is a consultation and injecting strategy that treats patients differently to other injecting techniques. Dr Jake has used this system since 2017 and is currently being trained as an international expert in the technique to help teach other injectors across the region. So what's different about this way of consulting and injecting?
Instead of asking you where want to be injected, it's important to first understand you as a person. What do you do for a job? Are you client-facing or at home behind a computer mat of the time? Are you a conservative person who doesn't want anyone to know that you've had injectables? Or maybe you're the opposite and are looking for a complete transformation?
It might sound strange but unless your injector explores your emotional motivations for wanting a treatment, they only really scratch the surface of your concerns. It's not therefore uncommon that inappropriate treatments are performed on patients if they aren't consulted properly, leading to dissatisfaction with the results.
Understanding how you think about yourself, what has truly motivated you to book in and how you genuinely feel on the inside will help unlock the best way to treat you. It will help Dr Jake create a bespoke and holistic treatment plan that only ever addresses your true aesthetic needs.
Your emotional attributes
Without smiling, have a look into the mirror again. If you're totally honest with yourself, do you see any signs of tiredness or maybe you look slightly sad or even a bit angry in some way? ('RBF' is a real thing...!) Or maybe your face is rounder than it used to be? Perhaps you'd like to look a bit more feminine or what about looking more attractive or even younger?
These types of aspirations are called 'emotional attributes' in the MD Codes™ technique and it gives Dr Jake clues to the areas and features of your face that might be included as part of an overall treatment plan. This approach ensures that your wants are aligned with your needs, rather than simply doing non-specific treatments like 'cheek fillers'.
This is a patient-centric and tailored approach to facial aesthetics that gets to the bottom of why people in for a treatment in the first place. Almost all patients will have two or more of the emotional attribute but there's no right or wrong and everyone is treated as an individual.
The emotional attributes can be grouped into four negatives and four positives:
Negative emotional attributes
Positive emotional attributes
I want to look more contoured/slimmer
I want to look more feminine/masculine
I want to look more beautiful
I want to look younger