Skincare

Having injectable aesthetic treatments without a skin care regieme is like going to the hygienist and then not brushing your teeth.

A good skincare regieme will compliment your treatment and optimise your skin alongside your aesthstic treatments.

Options and research can be overwhelming and difficult to unpick through marketing and social media glitz.

If you are new to planning a home skin care regieme you may find this guide a good starting point.

Spend your money to spend where the evidence is: Botox, Retinol and SPF.

Don't spend a lot of money on skincare products; you are paying for packaging and advertising, instead focus on active ingredients.

Morning: Cleanse, Serums, Moisturise, SPF.
Evening: Cleanse, Serums, Retinol, Moisturise.
Weekly: Exfoliation and a sheet mask.

| MORNING |

Cleanse with a cleansing cream to suit your skin type.

I recommend CeraVe products.

Avoid cleansers that foam or bubble, massage into face and neck, wipe away with a warm damp face cloth.

Serum onto damp skin

Moisturise

I recommend CeraVe products. If your skin is not particularly dry, you could omit this step.

SPF 50 summer/30 winter, to protect your skin from photo-aging and preserve your collagen this is arguably the most important step.
Recommend products include Biore Watery Essence, La Roche Posay, Body Shop Skin Defence Multi-Protection or Nivea Face.

These are inexpensive, non greasy and well absorbed. Heliocare or Altruist are good splurge options.

| EVENING |

Double cleanse if you have been in the city with makeup on.

This doesn't mean doing the same thing twice; use micellar water and a cotton pad or oil cleanse (any oil cleanser, or simple coconut oil, rubbed in and
rinsed off with a warm face cloth), then cleanse as you do in the morning.

Serum onto damp skin

Retinol

Moisturise, either with a few drops of face oil (I recommend100% Organic Rose Hip oil from the ordinary) or a rich night cream of your choice.

I personaly splurge here on a face oil from Clarins and Pixiglow because I love the smells.

Spend some time here massaging this into your face and neck ceremoniously in upward strokes to promote lymph drainage before you drift off to sleep - because you’re worth it, and this is often the only mindful moment of self care in our busy day.

Serums

A good basic to start is with a Hyaluronic acid serum, I'd recommed one from the Ordinary, CeraVe or a Japanese brand called Hada Labo, this will hydrate your skin and is smoothing and calming.
You may want to try Ordinary’s Multi-Peptide + HA Serum (previously known as Buffet) as well.
This contains peptides to encourage collagen and is quite lovely.
Apply one of these twice a day after cleansing.
That's really quite enough, but if you want to get more fancy and target other skin complaints then tailor make from the list below to suit your skin’s needs.
As a rule apply runny liquids first, thicker ones after, and oily ones last.
If the combination piles (rubs off in little bits), adjust order or combinations.

Niacinamide (Vitamin B3)

Good for skin on the combination/oily side. Also useful for fine lines and pigmentation.

The Ordinary make a lovely one that is also available as a powder that you can mix with your moisturiser or SPF in the morning (niacinamide 10% + Zinc 1%).

Vitamin C

Good for dull complexions or unwanted pigmentation. Use either in the mornings, or evening time on alternate days with your retinol. Do not use at the same time as your retinol; the active ingredients will cancel each other out. Vitamin C serum oxidises if exposed to light/air so ensure the serum you buy is in an opaque airtight container, aim for 10-20% concentration in your product.La Roche Possay and Garnier make nice ones that are well absorbed.

Topical Caffiene

Good for short term relief for under eye puffiness: Again The Ordinary come up trumps here. Use in the morning before make up.

Weekly

A weekly exfoliation is recommended to slough away dead skin cells. Apply your serums or a weekly sheet mask onto the fresh skin after exfloiation. Lovely.

Step away from skin scrubs (if you were a teen of the 90's like me you may remember the St Ives Apricot scrub ? Well, it turns out it was really bad for our skin).

Instead of physical exfoliation, use chemical exfoliation with a gentle acid; it's not as scary as it sounds and can be bought in any Boots/online. The Ordinary have a cult product called AHA 30% + BHA 2% Peeling Solution, it tingles for the first few minutes it's on, be prepared for this.

A more gentle alternative is Pixi Glow tonic £25 or Aldi’s dupe Lacura Healthy Glow £4 with the same active ingredients.

Retinol

Retinol is a Vitamin A derivitive. Along with SPFs, and Botox retinol is one of the only few ingredients actually proven to provide ‘anti-aging’ benefits.

They work by increasing epidermal (skin) turnover so reduce the appearance of fine lines/wrinkles and dark spots.

They also inhibit collagenase, which is an enzyme that breaks down collagen.

Go slow and low with concentrations as they can cause irritation to your skin. Start with lower concentrations alternative nights and build up slowly until your skin can tolerate higher concentrations daily.

The right concentration will leave your skin feeling soft and fresh the morning after application and without any soreness or dryness.

Apply in the evening as U.V light will degrade molecules, reducing effectiveness.

There are many brands available and are pretty much of a muchness, more expensive ones generally have nicer smells and faster absorption time. Boots No.7 are an excellent choice and have the same quality ingredients as the high end products available.

Prescription strength retinols are generally recommended for skins aged 40 or above.

This is known as TRETINOIN and comes in different strengths.

A good analogy would be comparing a paracetamol (retinol) to morphine (tretinoin); once your skin hits 40, you want the good stuff to prevent skin aging and hyperpigmentation development.

Once I know your skin and medical history I can prescribe this for you in clinic, I use tretinoin from the Obagi range because I think it is the best prescription range available, I charge £89 per tube (only available for existing clients).

Alternatively you can buy this from an onlne pharmacy by submitting pictures and completing a medical questionaire - 'dermatica' and 'skin and me' are good providers to explore.

Microneedling

The very best way to get your 'collagen banking' in and I recommend you have 3-4 treatments a year for this reason.

Microneedling is a procedure where a device equipped with fine needles is passed over the face and neck, creating controlled micro-injuries to the skin. This process stimulates the body's natural healing response, triggering inflammation and the release of growth factors, which contribute to collagen production and skin rejuvenation.

It's also a great way to deliver active ingredients, such as hylaluronic acid deeper into your skin.

You will look like a tomato after treatment, this subsides after 2 days and you will generally be back to normal by day 3. Your skin will have a lovely glow for a couple of weeks after treatment.

I offer microneedling with exsomes (which super charge the treatment and reduce inflammatory skin conditions along with down time, read more here), but these are not necessary for everyone.

I have my microneedling done by an excellent practitioner in Islington who I have no business affiliation with but wholeheartedly trust and would recommend.

Link to him here.