Every face is unique
The key to an injector delivering a good result is to align their patients 'wants' with their aesthetic 'needs'. In other words, we assess our patients, their signs of facial aging and then make a staged treatment plan.
Facial aging and facial anatomy are complex - sometimes the features and signs of aging seen on the surface are only the tip of the iceberg. This is why an expert assessment is needed and treatments should be done in a way that respect a patients natural features and anatomy.
Before any injecting is done, it's also important to understand who you are as a person and your overall outlook. For example, what you do for living, how you want to portray yourself and what stage you are in life are some key questions to be considered before a treatment.
Dr Jake will also explore your emotional motivations for wanting a treatment. Understanding how you think about yourself, what the underlying motivation for you booking in and how you feel on the inside will help unlock the best way of planning your treatments. The more honest and open you are, the better the alignment of your expectations and your treatment outcomes will be.
Clinical photos are always taken and Dr Jake will go through each image with you. This is done so that you understand your own face, your unique features and how the ageing process works. The signs seen in your photos dictate why some treatments are recommended - or perhaps aren't. So please don't be offended if Dr Jake sometimes says no to a particular request. Your face is special and the core principles of a beautiful result rely on working with your natural anatomy to maximise it's potential.
UNDERSTANDING FACIAL AESTHETICS
New patients tend to book in with an injector with a specific area or feature that they want to improve. But the process of facial aging and enhancing beauty is much more complicated than softening some lines or doing an isolated filler treatment. Often the area that you might want to focus on is just one symptom of a more complex chain of events and more global changes to the face as a whole.
If you have a look at your own face, most people will notice the most distracting features like wrinkles or the heaviest 'folds' or shadows of the face. But treating only the wrinkles or shadows rarely improves the overall look of someone's aesthetic. In the past, this method of treating the face commonly led to the area looking more heavy or even looking more 'unnatural'.
The other big variable in achieving a result that you like is the injector. Just like an artist or an architect, all injectors develop their own styles, techniques and their own way of seeing a face. So Dr Jake strongly advises any patient looking for an injector to first do their research and to try and find a good match with their own taste and values. A good place to start is to explore the injectors website and their social media channels to see if you resonate with what is being said and showcased.
When you meet Dr Jake, he'll therefore explore your outlook and try to get a feel for your own sense of aesthetics in your consultation. This isn't to judge you, it's to see if your aesthetic aligns with his own. This ensures that his treatment suits your own needs and so that he does the best thing for you.
So it's not uncommon for Dr Jake to occasionally decline treating patients. This could be for a number of reasons including those who already have or who want a more augmented look, or maybe you just have a different vision for what you like. But if a treatment isn't in line with his vision of how beauty is best represented , Dr Jake will not proceed with a treatment.
He also works closely with Dr Toni Pikoos, a clinical psychologist who specialises in looking after patients who need specialist support with their body image and mental health. Dr Jake will refer patients to Toni who would benefit from her care (as the AHPRA Guidelines)
Facial harmony
Whether you're only concerned about a few minor wrinkles or have more significant signs of aging, 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 a lip filler treatment that don't suit the rest of the face.
Dr Jake often gives his new patients some simple analogies when explaining why certain treatments are recommended in a particular order:
Foundation: When you build a new house it needs need solids foundations first - and our faces are no different really! as time goes on, the 'foundations' of our faces slowly change. This leads to some of the earliest signs of facial ageing. So the first priority of fillers in 30+ year olds is to ensure that the basic structure of your face is well supported. Here we tend to treat the 'midface' (the lateral and anterior cheek areas) and therefore support the 'foundation' of our face.
Contour:
Next we often work on improving the 'contour' the face - think of this like the frame of a painting. Without a solid shape, the canvas of the painting won't be held in place. this usually involves treating the lower face such as the chin, the jawline and the temple areas to restore the 'frame' of the face. Our face shape subtly changes over time and so by restoring a sharper definition and outline, we can hugely improve your overall aesthetic.
Refinement: Finally we might work on making some minor refinements to some of the smaller details. These typically amplify the result of the foundation and contour treatments but don't always work on their own. 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'.
For these three steps, Dr Jake will be looking at many different features including:
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your facial shape
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your overall symmetry
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your facial proportions
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your profile view (from the side)
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your forehead shape
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the muscles of facial expression in both the upper and lower face
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your eyes, eyelids & eyebrows
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your facial volume & the main areas of hollowing
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your nose, it's shape, the tip and the overall contour
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the lips including their volume, definition, projection & shape
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the area surrounding your mouth including skin quality, fine lines & support for the lips
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your smile, teeth, dental hygiene and biting/chewing movements
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your ear lobe volume
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your skin including texture, hydration & pigmentation
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your bone structure including the temples, cheeks, chin & jawline
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the transitions between your face, the double chin area, neck & chest
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your hands including the skin quality and volume
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