The most common barrier to people getting injectables is the fear of looking very different or strange. I think this is essentially driven by the horror stories that we all read about in the magazines, but we very rarely see the 'good' work being highlighted. If a celebrity does look great, it's often attributed to them being lucky, healthy, working out well and 'looking after' themselves. But don't kid yourselves, everyone ages and you shouldn't feel guilty about getting some help along the way.
I usually advise my patients that from my perspective, helping someone looking better is about doing small incremental adjustments that when added together over time have a harmonious, compounding effect. My friend Alice Hart-Davis (pictured) is a famous aesthetic journalist in London, UK and she coined the phrase 'tweakments' - meaning little tweaks treatments! She has written a book called the Tweakments Guide and is a famous example of practising what she preaches. (In the first photo she was 30, in the second she is 56 and look 'better', even thought she looks her age)
This is the perfect analogy to what good aesthetic medicine is all about. Not only are the adjustments small, but they are slow and steady. You shoul see your treatments as a journey with a plan, not a mad sprint to the finish line!
The truth is that beauty is a process and so it's important to approach it with patience and a longer-term mindset. A good cosmetic injector will talk to you, listen to your thoughts, examine your features and take clinical photos. This will help create that clear plan that you understand but will also give you the best investment for your money. Treatments aren't cheap and a good aesthetic doctor will also help you manage your budget as effectively as possible.
Simple tweakments that I do everyday for people include:
- anti-wrinkle injections for the frown, forehead and crow's feet areas
- fillers for the midface (meaning the cheek and under eye area combined)
- bio-remodelling treatments to help improve the skin quality
These can be done alone or combined but ultimately can help refresh, restore and 'tweak' your appearance - but without looking usual or 'done'.