June started well with the Queen’s Jubilee, what a treat to have a 4 day weekend and I loved watching all the pomp and ceremony in London from the comfort of my living room (it looked exhausting!)! I don’t know about you, but I love the light evenings at the moments and as we near the summer solstice I’m always extra motivated to make the most of the extra daylight hours. Even leaving work at 8pm feels like an early finish when it’s still daylight. I’m keeping everything crossed for a sunny month!
June also sees me as busy as ever … I’m currently hurtling up the country by train Edinburgh-bound courtesy of HA Derma, the distributor for IBSA who make my favourite products Profhilo, Aliaxin and Viscoderm. I am privileged to be in the company the best aesthetic practitioners for an anatomy and injection masterclass. It genuinely feels that life has really got back to normal post-covid now that I’m actually leaving the clinic to study instead of opening my laptop to join a Zoom event. I haven’t been to Edinburgh for many years and I’m really looking forward to it! I’ve even packed my trainers for a quick trot around Holyrood Park … I’m staying so close it would be rude not to although it doesn’t look flat (unfortunately)!
Onto clinic news … I couldn’t be more excited to welcome a new nurse to Skin Deep Clinic. I was amazed at the volume of applications for the position and narrowing down the applications to decide who to interview was no easier than deciding who to recruit as all I wanted to take all three final candidates!
Sophie Dickens accepted the position and I’m thrilled to say she will be joining me at the end of June to shadow my clinics 2 days per week initially before completing her formal training days in August. You’ll no doubt be meeting her in person later in the year but for a sneaky peek of Sophie take a look at my social media, and thanks to everyone for welcoming her on my announcement post.
Meet Sophie, the new Skin Deep Clinic Nurse
I just want to apologise in advance for planned internal building work in reception at the clinic scheduled to start at the end of June. A new treatment room is being created in the area we currently have separated by the glass dividers. The waiting area will be temporarily moved, and dust dividers fixed in place. Hopefully, the inevitable noise and disruption will be minimal.
This does bring good new though, this new room will be Sophie’s dedicated treatment room, which means we will be able to run clinics at the same time. So, availability of appointments will improve by September at the very latest once both Sophie and I are happy for her to work unsupervised. Having the extra treatment room will mean that I’m on hand during some of her clinics too.
Still on my journey to Scotland! I can almost recite the list of stations on this route now…Wigan…Preston…Carlisle…and we haven’t even reached Wolverhampton yet!
Here’s to a sunny June and I look forward to welcoming you to my new and improved premises and growing team. As always anything you need, or any queries please do just get in touch.
Well … hello May! I don’t know about you, but I love feeling a bit of warmth and basking in some light and sunshine – it just makes me happier! This month’s news is an update from me on Skin Deep Clinic, since I started on this journey, my patients have always been at the heart of what I do, and I wanted to take the opportunity to keep you up to date with my plans.
I firstly want to thank all of you for your loyalty and business, it may sound cliched but there is nothing better than seeing patients return time after time and it is no better endorsement for the clinic. Since we reopened after Lockdown Three, we have found ourselves very busy and have put every effort into managing the clinic diary to take extra care to ensure there is always enough space for existing, loyal patients to book their regular treatments, whilst working with new patients for the first time. In all my years of running Skin Deep Clinic, the demand for new patient consultations has never been so high. This is something for which I am eternally thankful, but it does create demand and bottle neck issues, so we have been limiting how many new patients we see each week to make sure they can start their treatment plan within 2 weeks of consultation.
I find myself currently with a 2 month waitlist for new patient consultations (words I never thought I would be writing and yes, a great problem to have but none the less one that I need to solve to maintain my service levels to all my patients). I’ve taken some time to consider the best course of action and working any more hours is neither a practical or safe option for me or you, and as much as cloning would be a good option, I’m not sure the world is ready for two Wendys! So, after much consideration I have decided it is time to recruit a new practitioner into the clinic, I mentioned the idea in the most recent newsletter that went out and I have been genuinely surprised by the number of applicants.
So, I am officially recruiting and am specifically looking for a registered health care professional to join me. I am well aware that non-health care professionals can offer many of the treatments and services we have at Skin Deep Clinic, but this does not align with my standards or the ethos of clinic, put simply our objective is to offer only the highest standards of service and safety in aesthetics and skin care in the Shrewsbury area and beyond.
Just a couple of examples for context to explain my thinking … anti-wrinkle treatments, as a prime example, involve the use of a prescription only medicine (Botox) and patients looking for this treatment must be assessed face to face by a prescribing health care practitioner. Furthermore, in the (unlikely) event of complications, where further prescription only drugs would need to be administered it is vital to have registered healthcare professional. So, a non-health care professional, regardless of their enthusiasm and ability would not help reduce waiting times significantly.
The rationale behind my plan for recruitment is that having a new registered health care professional in situ will also allow us to increase our opening hours eventually to 6 days per week. This will give you as Skin Deep Clinic patients a much wider choice of appointments including more evening slots, Friday afternoons and Saturdays – all of which I am asked for but unable to fulfil on my own. So, the benefits are huge and as soon as training and independent practice is enabled, we’ll be making these changes.
I hope these May musings clarify my intent for the future, which is first and foremost to be able to service all of you quickly and with the utmost care and safety. If you or anyone you know would like to be considered for our new position, please do drop me a line at the clinic.
The future is bright and busy! Just how I like it!
February seems to have flown by, I can’t believe it’s almost over! As usual it’s been a busy month in the clinic and great to see so many of you, thank you as always for your continued support. As we move into March and closer to Spring (horray!) … I’ve got a spring in my step too with some new product news! I am very fussy about any treatments I add to the Skin Deep Clinic portfolio, it is of utmost most importance to me that any treatment I suggest to you is of the highest quality and does what it ‘says on the tin’ (and a bit more!). HydraFacial has been on my radar for some time, I’ve heard so many good things about it, but I’ve only been able to trial it recently. I really enjoyed this treatment and it gave great results, so I am now delighted to offer it to you at Skin Deep Clinic (coming end of March 2022).
This is a great product to complement my injectable treatments and it is way more involved than a standard facial (and works a lot harder), if you’re not looking for anything too invasive but want a good visible result then give it a try. Lauren, who already works on facial, brow and lip treatments within the clinic, will also be available to offer HydraFacial – so there shouldn’t be a long waiting list.
Please note: HydraFacial treatments will be available from end March 2022
The Basics
HydraFacial is a skin detoxifying and deep cleansing experience which rejuvenates your skin with active botanical ingredients. The treatment reveals glowing, refreshed and radiant skin with immediate results. HydraFacial is a treatment that everyone can enjoy and is suitable for all skin types and concerns.
HydraFacial will give you instant and visible results that you can see and feel after each treatment. This patented technology follows a six-step treatment process – Detox, Cleanse and Exfoliation, Brightening, Extraction, Hydration and finally Rejuvenation. Dead skin cells and impurities are removed and the skin is hydrated with antioxidants and peptides.
A Guest Blog by Mitch Wappner, who runs our in-house counselling service.
For anybody who hasn’t been depressed, it seems like it’s easy to break the cycle of depression. Do this, do that, exercise, talk to someone, blah blah.
The First Step ….
The first step isn’t conversation, especially with those who don’t know. The first step is finding someone to listen.
TimetoTalk Day was celebrated on the 3rd February 2022. This was one day where everyone was encouraged to start a conversation with somebody. This was to try to break down the stigma and raise awareness of mental health
As a person centered counsellor, I cannot impress upon others the importance of talking. Communicating with each other, in my opinion, is the fundamental basis of any relationship. It builds trust and respect and encourages warmth and understanding.
When I was struggling with anxiety and depression, I soon became aware of the enormous amount of advice available. Personally, I found this overwhelming and at times quite scary. All I actually wanted to do was talk to someone who would listen without interrupting with glib words of advice or judgement. I was lucky in that I had friends and family who were willing to let me talk, but eventually I felt as though I was burdening them with my thoughts you could see they were desperate to give me a solution; so I quietened my voice and internalised these thoughts.
My anxiety and depression deepened until I reached out and sought therapy from someone who understands. This was one of the hardest steps I have had to take and yet one of the most rewarding.
During my counselling journey (which is ongoing btw!), I experienced warmth, empathy and compassion. I felt respected and listened to. It was as though the counsellor was walking beside me on my journey, allowing me to make my own decisions whilst having them for support.
Bit by bit, I gained a deeper understanding of who I was, my confidence grew and my anxiety and depression symptoms lessened.
It was thanks to the counselling experience I had encountered that I decided to change the course of my journey, and train to become a counsellor myself.
For me at least, I have found that I don’t need someone to tell me what to do, I don’t need someone to carry me, I just need someone to listen and be there when I need them.
Try it. Take one step.
For more information on how Mitch can help you with the first step take a look at our Counselling page or join Mitch on her Facebook page for regular updates.
Those of you who know me, know that I am always very keen for my patients and prospective patients to understand as much as possible about the treatments I administer at Skin Deep Clinic, doing this gives us a mutual understanding of how they work and what to expect. Botox is the most popular treatment at Skin Deep Clinic, so I thought I’d use the first blog of 2022 to dispel some myths and confirm some realities about this much discussed drug.
But first … a little bit of history; Botox was first used in the early 80’s to treat people suffering from cross eyes or flickering eye lids (strabismus and blepharospasm). Through the use of Botox, people noticed the appearance of lines and wrinkles was improving. The use of Botox in aesthetic medicine was born.
We are born making facial expressions. We can get away with pulling faces such as frowning and raising our brows for years before overuse leaves us with lines that are visible even when we are not making any expression. The lines have gone from being DYNAMIC – visible on expression only – to STATIC – visible all the time! This is when Botox comes into its element
Myth 1: Anyone can Buy Botox
Botox is a brand name for Botlinum Toxin. It is available only on prescription following a face to face consultation with a prescriber. The genuine product can not be bought off Instagram or the internet or over the counter so I’ll start with a warning – if you haven’t seen a prescriber face to face then its pot luck what you are having injected. The pharmacies who manufacture the genuine products are fiercely strict about who they will dispense to.
Myth 2: Botox Freezes Muscles
Botox is a purified protein and when injected into the muscles whose overuse causes lines and wrinkles, causes the muscles to RELAX so they can’t contract. The side effect of this is smoother skin. It is therefore a myth that Botox freezes muscles as it actually relaxes them!
Myth 3: Botox Lasts 6 Months
There is no magic brand of Botulinum toxin that will last 6 months. Botox will actually virtually be untraceable after 3 months however the effects CAN last longer. When muscles are put in to a state of relaxation for brief and repeated periods, we will start to establish muscle memory whereby we do not use the same facial expressions as frequently. Therefore, even when the drug has completely worn off we can still look smooth although the muscles can be fully contracted.
Myth 4: Using more Botox Will Make the Effects Last Longer
Using the correct dose will give optimum longevity. Depending on your facial anatomy, using more can have unwanted side effects such as a very heavy brow.
Myth 5: If I Stop Treatment I Will Suddenly Look Older
If you stop having treatment you will start using the facial expressions more regularly whose activity contributes to the appearance of static lines. These will not suddenly re-appear though so you won’t age overnight.
Myth 6: Using Botox in the Forehead Will Lift the Brows
Botox is a muscle relaxant so is not an effective way of treating heavy brows. In fact, many people who have heavy brows, which presents as eyelid laxity, are unsuitable for treatment. Horizontal forehead lines are caused by regularly raising our brows. Relaxing the muscle we use to raise the brows will slightly lower the brow position. This is unnoticeable in many patients but intolerable for those who already have a heavy brow.
