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Facial Aesthetics at Evolve Dentistry, Portishead

Our Instagram and Facebook feeds light up with miracle methods promising to make us look and feel better. Here’s some professional advice, before you leap in …

Every year there’s a nagging pressure to make a resolution, to make a change … to be smarter, brighter or lighter. If you’re considering some more scientifically proven ways to look and feel your best self, we asked local dentist and facial aesthetic expert, Dr. Carol Somerville Roberts for a few tips when considering any facial rejuvenation treatments.

Carol suggests your common-sense and gut feeling is the most powerful “if it looks too good to be true, it probably is”. And once you’ve started considering anything to look or feel better, from diets or a new hairstyle or reducing your wrinkles, pause and run her simple checklist. Ask ‘who, what, where’ then ‘how long and how much?’

First of all, who will understand your needs, and help you achieve something appropriate? Carol is a dentist, which makes her more qualified than most when it comes to giving injections, especially with anxious patients. But lots of independent beauty therapists and even home hairdressers offer wrinkle smoothing treatments. Did you know that wrinkle relaxation treatments are prescription only medicines? Which means only doctors, dentists and nurse prescribers can prescribe these treatments after a face-to-face consultation. Sadly, very occasionally things do go wrong. So, if it did where would you want to be? In someone’s spare room at home or in a professional environment with trained experts?

“I’ve been a dentist for 23 years and have practiced non-surgical facial aesthetics – treatments like wrinkle relaxation and dermal fillers for over 12 of them. But even I’m still learning. I’m now halfway through a one-year programme at University of Salford, Manchester in a Post Graduate Certificate in Non-Surgical Facial Aesthetics. Never be nervous about asking people what they know, and where they learnt it. A few laminated certificates from a weekend course simply isn’t enough when it comes to having facial aesthetic treatments.” Ask the practitioner if they are registered with Save Face which is a voluntary Government register of facial aesthetic practitioners who have agreed to adhere to certain standards of care and hygiene and be held accountable if they don’t.

Once you’ve found a caring expert, Carol suggests you ask ‘what’. What do you want to achieve? Whether it’s achieving an everyday healthy glow, or anything you feel self-conscious of, the best results are always the most natural looking ones, maybe not an over pronounced, reality-star boost to your lips. Most people want to look better, fresher but really don’t want anyone to know that they have had anything done. A gentle enhancement should make you feel better for you, not for others.

Then it’s the ‘where’. Buying online is hugely risky, dermal fillers are available online for as little as £30 a syringe, but what are you getting? Often the prices are so tempting, we fall for clever images and promises. When they don’t work, someone takes our hard earned money and we chalk it up to experience. “Our premises are registered with the `Government’s Care Quality Commission”, says Carol. “It’s tough to achieve and maintain, but it’s the ultimate guarantee.” Even if they aren’t CQC approved, always ask about health and hygiene is her tip.

And finally, ‘how long’ and ‘how much’ are the practical considerations. Fresher looking skin can be achieved in just two short sessions with Profhilo, or even one session for a wrinkle treatment; Carol says though you should always have a consultation prior to any treatment and be offered time to consider your options, with a cooling off period.

And most importantly, aside from the Who, What, Where, ask Why? You are you, and if you’ve felt self conscious about something, however silly it may seem to others, ask how you’d feel if that burden was somehow lifted.

But never be tempted to do something spontaneously, without asking the right questions. New Year, new you? Just be your best possible self. It’s the best resolution you can make.