Greetings from Nichola Maasdorp No4 Clinic in Elgin, Moray, Scotland! Today, we're delving into the topic of fine lines and how to treat them. We understand that fine lines are a natural part of the ageing process, but we also believe in embracing age gracefully and taking a holistic approach to skin care. In this article, I'll share with you some of the exciting treatments we offer and our philosophy when it comes to rejuvenating your skin.
As we age, our skin goes through various changes, and one of the most noticeable signs is the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles. While there's no way to completely turn back the clock, we can certainly help you look and feel your best with our innovative treatments.
At Nichola Maasdorp No4 Clinic, we offer Botox, a well-known and effective treatment for fine lines. Botox works by temporarily relaxing the muscles that cause wrinkles, allowing your skin to smooth out. It's a fantastic option for those looking for a quick and relatively painless solution to fine lines. Our experienced team ensures that the treatment is safe and tailored to your unique needs.
Exciting things are on the horizon at our clinic! We're currently in the process of expanding our treatment options to focus more on skin regeneration. I'm personally enrolled in a course with the Institute of Cell Regeneration, and I can't wait to share the benefits of these cutting-edge techniques with you.
One of the exciting new treatments we're offering is the combination of exosomes and microneedling. Exosomes are a revolutionary way to reduce fine lines and stimulate collagen production. They contain growth factors that promote skin regeneration, leaving you with a more youthful and vibrant complexion.
When combined with microneedling, the results are even more impressive. Microneedling creates tiny micro-injuries in the skin, encouraging your body to produce collagen and elastin naturally. The addition of exosomes enhances this process, resulting in smoother, firmer skin.
Another component of our Fine Lines Package is Target Cool Carboxytherapy. This treatment involves the use of carbon dioxide gas to improve circulation and oxygenation in the skin. By promoting blood flow to the treated area, carboxytherapy helps to rejuvenate the skin and reduce fine lines. It's a safe and effective option for those looking to refresh their appearance.
Now, let's talk about our comprehensive Fine Lines Package, which combines microneedling with Xcellaris Pro, carboxytherapy with Target Cool, and exosomes. We're also providing you with a two-month supply of our Collagen Activation Pack and SPF to ensure your skin remains nourished and protected.
Priced at £1532, this package is designed to address fine lines holistically, focusing on both the external and internal aspects of skin health.
We're always striving to offer the latest and most effective treatments. Stay tuned for the introduction of PRP (Platelet-Rich Plasma) treatments at Nichola Maasdorp No4 Clinic. PRP is known for its rejuvenating properties and can be used for a variety of skin concerns, including fine lines.
At Nichola Maasdorp No4 Clinic, our goal is to help you look and feel your best while embracing the ageing process gracefully. We believe in a holistic approach to skin care, and our Fine Lines Package reflects our commitment to your skin's health and vitality. Whether you're interested in tried-and-true solutions like Botox or cutting-edge techniques like exosomes and microneedling, we're here to guide you on your journey to radiant, youthful skin. Don't hesitate to contact us to learn more or schedule a consultation. Age gracefully with us!
The excitement of Christmas has faded away, replaced by a new year! We often see this as a new start and a chance to reset, as we abstain from bad foods, alcohol and an unhealthy lifestyle. We start a diet instead or take up running. However, you want to be careful with this ‘new year new me’ philosophy!
There’s one big problem with this mindset – it doesn’t work! Studies show that 23% of people give up on their New Year’s Resolutions after one week, while 43% expect to give up before the end of January. In fact, less than 10% of people successfully continue with their new lifestyle!
‘New year new me’ won’t motivate you for very long, especially after a slip-up. You need a plan for a long-term goal because you can rarely make lasting changes based on an impulse. As a dentist, I believe in making small changes, which culminate in significant improvements.
Take alcohol for example. From a skin perspective, we’re in favour of reducing your intake. Too much alcohol dehydrates the skin and reduces elasticity, leading to fine lines, creases and a dull, dry complexion. It can also give rise to conditions like psoriasis and rosacea, to say nothing of the increased risk of skin infections. On the other hand, going cold turkey can be a mistake. It doesn’t allow any flexibility for what can be a big lifestyle change (depending on how much you’re used to drinking). Similarly, you might be invited to a social event and feel like you’re unable to enjoy a drink, leading to regret, resentment and an eventual return to bad habits.
Instead of being stern with yourself, follow a little-by-little approach. Try giving up alcohol during the week and allowing yourself 3-4 units at the weekend or at a party. It may feel like a little change, but imagine the impact after one, two or three months! You’ll be in a much healthier state, without the inevitable disappointment caused by the ‘new year new me’ attitude.
There’s more to January than giving up bad habits. Many of you contact me in the winter, asking me to restore your faces after the festive period. You might be searching for a quick fix, hoping that I’ll turn around and present you with a miracle cure. We have some excellent treatments at No. 4, including luxurious Hydrafacials and healing light therapy, but they’re not magic. I can’t solve all your problems with the wave of a wand or give you an undetectable treatment with no downtime.
We’re not here to transform you into your ‘new year new me’ ideal. We’re here to walk alongside you as you seek to renew your skin and age well. Ageing well takes commitment, much like a New Year’s Resolution, which is why we encourage you to stop and think about the best ways to achieve your goals.
We’re partners, you and me. You trust me to listen to you, identify your main concerns and then come up with a plan. I might direct you to Su’s Skin Program, ideal for investing in your future complexion. Alternatively, I might point you to my own skincare plan, perfect for combating signs of ageing and menopause. Through 12 in-depth sessions, I’ll boost your collagen production, reduce fine lines and soften wrinkles, helping you achieve a healthy, glowing appearance.
Are you ready to take the first step? Then contact us to book a consultation! It’s the best opportunity to find the right treatment.
Don’t forget, you can keep up with our news by following us on Facebook and Instagram!
It still boggles my mind that fine line and wrinkle treatment, using botulinum toxin, can be so effective! More so, it amazes me that over the decades that I have been offering this treatment, more uses keep emerging. From helping depression to boosting skin health, the treatment options available to my patients keeps on growing!
However, the downside can be having to return multiple times a year, which isn’t great if you don’t like needles! So here are some top tips to help you extend the time between your visits…
Making sure your doctor/dentist/nurse practitioner is experienced will go a long way to ensuring you get the right areas treated appropriately. Some patients are regularly recalled by their injector to get ‘top ups’ but, in my opinion, this shouldn’t be necessary, unless it’s the first time you have been treated by the person.
Of course, your body isn’t always predictable, so occasionally you may require adjustments to your fine line and wrinkle treatment after a few weeks. Having regular ‘top ups’ will make Botox® less effective for you, so it’s important to avoid them if you can.
Consider not using face scrubs, masks or toners one week before your treatment. These can alter the chemistry of your skin by causing inflammation, which may result in your fine line and wrinkle treatment being less effective.
Ask your injector about other brands that might work for you. After many decades, new botulinum brands have now been developed, each with their own characteristics and benefits. This means that, if your regular treatment with the Botox® brand isn’t working as well as you’d like, your injector now has other brands they can try to see if they give you better fine line and wrinkle treatment results that last longer.
Any experienced doctor/dentist /nurse will be able to discuss the alternative brands that are available and give their advice on whether they may be helpful to you.
In a study by Koshy JC et al. (Journal of Drugs and Dermatol 2012 Apr;11(4):507-12), researchers found that zinc and/or phytase supplementation boosted the effects of botulinum treatments by 30% on average.
‘Surprisingly, the results showed that in over ninety percent of the patients studied, the zinc/phytase combination resulted in a remarkable improved responsiveness to treatment of blepharospasm using the same amount of botulinum toxin as previously used’, said Soparkar, M.D., Ph.D., an oculoplastic surgeon. ‘The toxins seemed to have a greater effect and last longer. Potentially, this could mean using less toxin, offering patients financial savings, greater safety, and more consistent results.’
Remember that this requires some planning, as studies have shown that you have to start zinc supplements 4 days prior to treatment for them to have any effect!
Now you know my top tips to get the best results from your fine line and wrinkle treatment, it’s time for you to get yourself booked in! You can do so quickly and easily on our website. You can also find all of our contact details on this page in case there are any questions that you would like to ask.
Don’t forget to follow us on Facebook and Instagram for more beauty tips and tricks!
There’s no doubt that injectables like fillers and Botox® are the most effective line-reducing treatments available. Others might help to some extent but they will never achieve what injectables can. Furthermore, these treatments, in the right hands, are very safe and almost painless. The proof is in the sheer number of people who have been treated worldwide! Allergan reports that, as a brand leader in the field of dermal fillers, they recently achieved a major milestone for their key brand Juvéderm with ‘100 million syringes of their product delivered globally’. Isn’t that incredible?
Some of you might be reluctant to try injectables for various reasons. You might feel scared about ‘losing’ your expressions or you’re worried that you won’t look natural and that others will know you’ve visited a clinic… or are you just scared in general?
Rest assured, safety is my top priority when treating my patients. I like to see myself and my team as ‘gatekeepers’.
Gatekeepers, like us, keep you safe and won't recommend a treatment that's not in your best interest, so there’s no danger of you looking ‘overdone’. If a treatment isn’t right for you, we’ll say so! It’s not just about the look though, we also make sure that you’re in the right headspace. The only reason to undergo any of our procedures is because you want to. Don’t ever forget that! Accountable to our registered bodies (the GDC and HIS), we have to act within clear clinical and safety guidelines or risk getting struck off.
In order to be a gatekeeper, you must be properly trained. I have a Level 7 postgraduate OFQUAL qualification in injectables and I’ve been a dentist for years! What’s more, at No. 4, we have fantastic knowledge and experience - Su and I have over 60 years of clinical experience combined (we know, we don’t look old enough)!
The most important thing when choosing your clinic is to make sure the practitioners are fully qualified. The experience never hurts too though!
You should always expect the best!
Good gatekeepers will always give you all your options and give you time to make your decision as to whether to have treatment or not. We’re not saleswomen, we’re beauty practitioners! We will always conduct a thorough consultation and get to know you first. If injectables don’t suit your medical profile, lifestyle or expectations, we will let you know. After all, we don’t just deal with treatments, we deal with people.
It’s also important that you know you will receive good aftercare. You shouldn’t have your treatment and get kicked straight out of the door! You need to know how to best maintain your results. We’re always on hand to offer advice on which products will suit your skin and my team always want to ensure that you’re happy with your results. In short, you won’t get away from us that quickly…
If you want to get rid of lines and wrinkles, injectables are the best way to do so, but only when you're being treated by experienced, caring professionals.
The first thing to do is book in for your consultation, you can do this easily online. If you’re not quite ready for that, it may be helpful to get to know our clinic better, you can learn more about us on our website or by following us on Facebook and Instagram.
‘Good skin doesn’t happen by chance, it happens by appointment.’ I’m not sure who came up with this phrase but I can honestly say that it’s true! I have found that many of my clients who seek injectables to fix their fine lines and wrinkles don’t recognise that their skin is in crisis! Read on to discover whether your skin is in need of my help.
Early intervention is critical if you're going to avoid premature ageing. Although some might say that premature ageing is inevitable, I believe this isn’t necessarily true. Recent findings show that the environment plays a huge role in how our skin ages. Epigenetics - the study of how our genes react with our environment - means that, if you look after your skin, you might not look like you’re long in the tooth when you’re over 50!
So how do you know if your skin is in trouble and showing the early signs of damage and disease? Here are five signs to help you recognise that you’re in trouble.
Sun damage can cause some cells in the skin to go rogue. Melanocytes are the cells that colour your skin and are easily damaged by UVA, UVB and visible light. When they ‘go rogue’, excessive pigment is released into the skin, causing dark spots and uneven skin tone.
So if you’re starting to see dark spots, BEWARE - you may have caused damage and it’s starting to show!
Using harsh, damaging detergents or double cleansing will dry the skin and make it susceptible to pollution. Stripping it of its protective layer is not what you want to do if you want healthy skin. The surface is covered by a fatty layer, called the lipid barrier. This layer functions to protect your skin from environmental onslaughts, like pollution, whilst simultaneously preventing moisture from being sapped by dry air. If you disrupt this barrier, you will experience skin problems, like dehydration and premature ageing, and your cells won't function normally, leaving you vulnerable to skin damage.
Fine lines and wrinkles are a sign that your skin is losing elasticity. Elasticity is the ability of the skin to rebound after a mechanical force is applied to it. A good test to do on yourself is to lightly pinch the skin under the eye and see how quickly it returns to shape. This is commonly known as the ‘snap test’ by us clinicians. If the skin doesn’t rebound within a few seconds, it means you’re already losing elastic properties.
These usually first appear around the nose and cheeks, and are a sure sign that your skin is deficient in elastin, the fibre that keeps our skin in shape. As mentioned before, elasticity gives our skin the ability to rebound. It’s the same with our blood vessels - if they lose elasticity, they can’t return to shape and become dilated and visible on the surface of the skin. This means that, if you’re seeing broken vessels on your face, then you need to take action if you don’t want to look like a beet in your old age!
Large, open pores are more common than you think. Many women ignore them and plaster over the top with makeup. However, enlarged pores are a warning sign that the skin is suffering. Excess sebum and bacteria irritate the pores and cause inflammation, which damages the surrounding area, depleting elastin and collagen, allowing the opening of the pore to dilate. Makeup further inflames the situation, so simply covering pores isn’t a good option. What you need to do is pay attention to what your skin is telling you and come to its rescue!
So, now you know the signs, what can you do? My recommendation is to see someone like myself or Su to give you good, honest advice on how to manage it. Yes, you’re going to see changes happening to the skin as the years pass by, but some can be avoided, or at least minimised! Our wide range of treatments at No4 Clinic can help you to age positively and look your best!
If you’re ready to take the first step towards beautiful skin, simply book your online consultation! For more tips, tricks and advice, make sure to follow us on Facebook and Instagram. My live streams on Facebook are not to be missed!
