With people being cooped up indoors due to the lockdown, many have found their skin has suffered. In fact, it’s probably accurate to say that with some, beauty regimes and personal appearance have been completely shelved! Fortunately, we can rely upon the advice of the experts to put us all on the right track.
With beauty and aesthetic clinics due to open in April, Dr Victoria Manning, Dr Charlotte Woodward, Dr MJ Rowland-Warmann, Dr Nina Bal and Dr Saleena Zimri, have shared what they believe will be summer 2021’s trending treatments.
In addition to this inside information, they’ve also been kind enough to tell us what we can do now to ensure we look our best until the clinic’s doors reopen.
Trending treatments: Body treatments, skin quality, eye area and jawlines
Dr Manning and Dr Woodward said: “Facial thread lifts like Silhouette Soft, which creates an instant lift and boosts collagen in the following months, have become increasingly popular, as we’re looking at our faces more on Zoom. Demand for body treatments are surging – we’re all excited to show more than our upper half. Fat freezing and cellulite treatments are top of people’s lists post-lockdown, as well as breast thread lifts.”
“There are a lot of patients seeking rejuvenation of the eye area”, adds Dr MJ. “Whether it’s because they’ve really noticed the stresses of lockdown, homeschooling or working from home, or whether it is because the upper face is our focus while we’re wearing masks, tear trough treatments, and smoothing of the upper face are widely popular at the moment.
I have also seen a high up-tick in the number of people committing to lip filler – perhaps because downtime is less obvious due to mask-wearing or because looking at their faces on Zoom has given them the push. I’ve also had a lot of patients referred to dissolve their lip filler – both due to a poorly thought out backstreet filler during a lockdown or because the trend now is for very natural lips.”
E4’s Body Fixers Dr Nina Bal says: “Botulinum toxin for sure. People are prioritising their skin. During the lockdown, there has definitely been a huge increase in medical-grade skincare use at home, such as AlumierMD. And back in clinic, we can see the demand for AlumierMD chemical peels and collagen-boosting fillers such as Ellanse, to restore volume loss, aggravated by stress, during the lockdown.”
Dr Saleena Zimri agrees that video calls have impacted the way we want to look. “Patients are requesting jawline treatments in a way they never have before. We see our face from lower down on Zoom calls, so there has been a surge in demand for jawline and neck slimming and skin quality around the lower face, using a combination of Silhouette Soft collagen-boosting threads, liposuction and skin tightening.
People have said they want their eyes to look more open on screen, so I have booked in a lot of eyebrow lifts too. I predict we will also see a rise in body treatment, such as skin tightening for when we are able to go on holiday.”
Pre and post-pandemic: Stress and skin health
“Patients are a lot more concerned about their general health now, compared with March last year”, say Dr Vix Manning and Dr Charlotte Woodward. “They are looking after their skin more, and we have done a lot of virtual consultations for acne rosacea and the effects of stress on the skin.”
Dr Nina Bal agrees stress plays a key role. “People feel the pandemic and stress have aged them. By watching their faces constantly on Zoom, they are becoming more aware of any asymmetry, lines and ageing.”
“It’s all about the eyes now”, says Dr MJ. “There has been a rise in periorbital treatments, treatments to make the eye area look fresher. I’m a dentist, and we are also noticing a huge increase in people seeking to straighten their teeth. Braces really are hot right now because masks allow people to straighten their teeth without anyone seeing.”
Dr Zimri adds: “Previously, my patients were focused on the upper face, and we did a lot of botulinum toxin and lip treatments. We can see the massive surge in lower face treatments compared with last year.”
Summer treatment plans
Our five experts suggest there are a few options if we’re feeling and looking tired. “You need to get to grips with your skin first”, say Dr Manning and Dr Woodward. “We suggest having regular HydraFacials and using ZO skincare before we review an overall treatment plan. For the body, fat freezing achieves great results.”
“A summer treatment plan depends on the individual patient and is also something that will be determined after a thorough consultation”, says Dr MJ. “Some patients are a little bolder and would like multiple treatments in one go, and some patients are happy to just have a little something done.
It is important to maintain a naturally refreshed appearance rather than something that looks too OTT. That’s not the fashion anymore, and nobody looks good with giant lips, a jawline that makes you look like a hexagon, or eyebrows that have been pulled into a different postcode. Aesthetics is about bringing out your natural beauty and modifying the ageing process so you can feel beautiful.”
However, Dr MJ adds that skincare can make a huge difference. “I always tell my patients you can have all of your features in all the right places and be pretty, but as soon as you have nice skin, everyone starts telling you about it.
Skin really is magic. It’s the foundation of looking good, and it is the ingredient that makes aesthetic treatments look even better. What’s more – you’re doing good things for your health by preventing premature skin ageing and even skin cancer.
Start with home-based medical-grade skincare, which your aesthetic doctor can figure out with you to get you the best results. Then you might want to consider in-clinic remedies like peels or micro-needling.”
Dr Nina Bal also suggests focusing on the skin. “A combination of medical-grade AlumierMD products at home, AlumierMD chemical peels to work on the skin texture and subtle tweaks with botulinum toxin and Ellanse, a collagen-stimulating filler which provides both instant and gradual results, is really effective.”
Dr Saleena Zimri suggests getting back to your baseline. “If you’re used to having botulinum toxin and filler, I would focus on these before addressing any new areas, like dynamic lines. We can then create a full 1-2-year plan, which I would suggest could include a Silhouette Soft thread lift and collagen-boosting Ellanse filler.”
What can we do now?
If mid-April still feels too far away, our experts suggest there are plenty of solutions we can do from home.
“We offer online consultations and suggest you get your skin glowing from home in the weeks we have left until reopening”, say Dr Manning and Dr Woodward. “This will maximise the effects of any ‘tweakments’ you do have.”
“I discuss a lot of products on my Instagram Stories (dr_mj_smileworks_), which patients can go out and buy”, says Dr MJ. “My patients can stay in touch with me from home, and we can get skincare sent to their house.”
Dr Nina Bal agrees that our focus should be on skincare at the moment. “Using medical-grade skincare products like AlumierMD makes a huge difference for your skin health.”
Dr Zimri adds: “Have a skin consultation; we can create a skin routine that packs a punch. Let’s get any side effects out of the way now, while we’re still at home, with high strength retinols and at-home peels. And have a discussion with a clinic about planning for post-lockdown.”
With all experts confirming long waiting lists post-opening, it’s clear the demand for aesthetics and skincare is surging this summer.
You can read more from all these experts and treatments on Aesthetics Insider aestheticsinsider.co.uk. For Sinclair product information, visit www.ellanse.com, www.perfectha.com and www.silhouette-soft.com.
Read more ways to reverse the signs of lockdown skin here.