Tor is Dr. Hannah’s good friend and long time treatment guinea pig. She writes blogs for Dermis Skin to explain her experiences for others who are considering having an aesthetic treatment to help them decide if it’s right for them.
Fines lines? Wrinkles? Nope these were more like deep troughs. I was fully intending on embracing old age because I didn’t want my face to be permanently frozen in an expression of mild surprise. Because that’s what I thought aesthetics was: Botoxing the life out of my face and losing my expressions. But ultimately I started to become unhappy with my appearance and decided to do something about it.
You can see in the image above the before and after photos. Lets start with the forehead: I hated it. The lines were deep and established and had the audacity to not even be horizontal. Between my eyebrows I had a fixed deep crease making me look partially scowling. Around my eyes the crows feet were doing their merry attention seeking dance. And my smile lines had become fixed around my nose and mouth.
First step was a consultation with Dr Hannah. We talked through the options, risks and pricing. She reassured me that it would be subtle – because I didn’t want anyone to know. And we went though my questions: would my face be frozen or paralyzed? Unlikely. Would it hurt? A little bit perhaps but manageable. And would it really work? Results are not guaranteed but Hannah assured me she would work with me over the long term to get the best results.
We first tried a small amount of Botox. It did not hurt and was not at all obvious. But the lines were still very much there although reduced. Hannah also studied my face to establish they way various facial muscles had responded to the treatment. It was better, but not quite the transformation I had hoped for. The eyes and mouth lines were ok, but I felt that the forehead, though improved, gave the same creased appearance.
A few weeks later I was back. This time we combined the Botox with some fillers and a chemical peel. Because the forehead lines were so established; Hannah wanted to try padding the area out a bit. And the peel was designed to remove the top layer of skin and trigger the production of new skin cells.
The filler was a bit intense. It involved Hannah injecting from a single point in my forehead outwards in a star/spiders web formation. The skin was numbed to a degree but I could feel the movement and tugging of the needle as it reached out underneath the skin. The chemical peel though was lovely and relaxing. Like having a facial, although one treatment was a weak form of acid and I could feel it tingling.
The results were instant and exactly what I was hoping for. My face was literally glowing and the lines on the forehead were significantly reduced and satisfyingly plumped out. I could see the creases in the skin where they has held their ridges for so long, But Hannah said this would fade as the skin recovered and relaxed into its new position.
I was so happy with the results, I looked natural and healthy, the lines were finally retreating, and best of all no one ever suspected a thing. The filler has lasted well over a year now although I still need to have the Botox topped up every now and again. But it is well worth it and I never want to go back to the way it was before.
