Where to start with tweakments

If you’re just starting to think about tweakments – how do you even begin? Here’s the need-to-know for anyone curious about embarking on aesthetic treatments. 

 1. First, what’s bothering you?   

We can all look ok if we’re wearing makeup and smiling into a mirror or a camera in a good light. It’s when we catch an unexpected reflection of ourselves in a shop window, or in the background of someone else’s picture, that our illusions unravel.  Take a picture of your face, without makeup, at rest (i.e. when you’re not smiling or lifting up your cheeks to hide the saggy bits) and try to take dispassionate look at it. I know that’s hard, but try.    

 What do you like?  

Before you dive in and focus on the things you don’t like, have a think about what you DO like about your face. Your eyes? Your nose? Your smile? Keep that in mind before you move onto any negative things. When we approach the idea of having tweakments, we often come at it from the idea that there is stuff ‘wrong’ with our faces that we want to ‘fix’. But a good practitioner will be looking to enhance your face by emphasising things that are already lovely about it, as well as helping improve on bits you dislike.    

Next, what do you want to change?  

• Is there something obvious that you see in your features that you’d like to change? Say, patchy pigmentation? Or jowls?  
• Is it more the case that you feel you look sad, or angry, when you’re not? Or do other people unhelpfully tell you to stop frowning, when you didn’t think you were? (It was people repeatedly telling me not to look so worried that eventually prompted me to try wrinkle-relaxing toxins). 
• Is it that you’re starting to look like your mum, but not when she was young and gorgeous?  
• Is it just that the way your face looks doesn’t reflect the way you feel on the inside?  

2. Do your research  

Knowledge is power. Once you’ve worked out your key concerns, read up on them – and all the different ways to treat them. We’ve got a full menu of concerns here, and from there, you can investigate particular treatments that sound interesting to you and that would be within your budget.  

NB – you’re looking for the right tweakment for YOU. That might sound screamingly obvious, but a lot of people dive straight in to wanting a procedure that they’ve seen on social media, or that their best friend, or a random celeb, has tried, or been talking about. The friend or celeb had a good result, so you fancy trying the treatment, too.  But is it appropriate for you? How can you tell? You need to get an opinion from an experienced practitioner.  

 3. Find a great practitioner  

I can’t stress enough how important this is. Finding a brilliant practitioner who will listen to your concerns, make sensible suggestions and help you build a treatment plan that fits with your budget and with the way you’d like to enhance your face is utterly key to getting a good result.  

How do you do this?:  

• Ask your friends for recommendations 
• Look at our practitioner register. These are all people who I would trust with my face, because they do great, considerate work.  
• Check their qualifications. Are they medically trained? (If so, then they are accountable to their relevant industry body). Do they have lots of specific training in aesthetic procedures and techniques? Have they had a few years to put this training into practice? Do they work full time in aesthetics or do they just dabble in it on their days off from their main job? Are they trained and competent in the management of complications? See our Staying Safe page for details.  
• Take a look at their social media. Do you like the way they look, the kind of things they talk about, the work they show, how they interact with patients? 
• It’s not just about finding someone who does great work. You need to like them and trust them and feel safe in their hands.  

 4. Have a consultation 

A consultation with your chosen practitioner is vital for discussing what you are looking for in terms of treatment. You can do a consultation online with a video call, though I always think you’ll get more out of a one-to-one session in person.  

• Prepare all your questions beforehand and write them down, so you remember them all.  
• Say clearly what’s bothering you, and make sure that the practitioner understands what you’re saying.  
• Have a budget in mind. 
• Be prepared that the practitioner may suggest more than one procedure, especially if you’re looking to tackle signs of ageing on the face (there’s no one-size-fits-all tweakment that suits everyone and does everything).  
• If you don’t understand what they’re suggesting, ask them to explain more simply.  
• Ask to see before and after images/ case studies of the procedures they’re recommending on other patients in the same age group or with similar concerns to you.  
• You shouldn’t feel any pressure to go ahead with any treatment. The practitioner should offer you a ‘cooling-off’ period before you even book in for anything.  

Then go home and think it over.  

If you’re looking for more on ‘starter’ tweakments click here to read my article.