At 36, I’m no spring chicken. I’m a mum of two young girls and, like all parents, spend my life juggling and putting myself and the very bottom of the pile. However, after ageing at least a decade over the past two years and wondering as I sit to do my make-up each morning, ‘do my crows feet really go down to my chin,’ and ‘has my face turned into a permanent frown?’ I realised it was time to do something about it.
Now, I have a confession, I have had Botox on a few occasions before, each time with a respectable professional. However, after catching myself off guard on far too many occasions at just how tired I looked, I realised I needed to book with the very best to see if I could banish my tired face for good, or at least three months before the toxin wore off.
What is Botox?
Botox is in fact a brand name that we’ve all adopted as the generic name for Botulinum Toxin A. When injected to the skin, it blocks the nerve signals to the muscle in which it was injected and stops them from contracting – if your muscles move less the existing wrinkles get ironed out and stop new ones developing. While we all may call injectables or anti-wrinkle injections ‘Botox’ there are various types on the market – all of which should only be used and prescribed by a medical professional.
Doing your research into what practitioner you use is imperative when taking the plunge. As it stands, injectables are unregulated meaning anyone can sign up into a quick course and start injecting your face with zero medical background – terrifying! And whilst the materials and equipment are highly regulated, not everyone claiming to be able to transform your face is. You can easily find out if someone is accredited by searching on the Generical Medical Council website – which is where Dr Benji Dhillon firmly sat.
Define Clinic
Dubbed ‘The nicest guy in injectables’, Dr Dhillon is the co-founder of Define Clinic, set in a prime spot of the affluent town of Beaconsfield. Having trained in plastic surgery for four years, Dr Benji switched his focus to full time aesthetics in 2014, perfecting his skills on London’s Harley Street. Now a leading UK practitioner, Dhillon has created Define Clinic with co-founder Dr Alfonso Rao to concentrate on medical skin rejuvenation and cosmetic dentistry.
Covering orthodontics, aesthetics, and dentistry as well as selling the very best Medi-grade skincare, this little hot spot has a discreet side entrance with ample parking meaning you can pop in to have multiple treatments and come out transformed. Dhillon’s mantra and what he’s trained his facial aesthetics team at Define to mirror is deliver natural results, by enhancing what the patient already has by using wrinkle relaxing injections, dermal fillers, non-invasive fat loss treatments, laser treatments, and medical grade facials.
The treatment
The clinic itself feels luxurious and staff are both polite and friendly. After booking in for my appointment I was taken to a side room to have my photos taken which are sent directly up to Dr Benji to assess one’s face and use as a baseline for how the treatment has worked when you go back for your follow-up appointment two weeks later.
Dhillon is in fact as friendly as they say, both calm and welcoming, and I immediately felt at ease. He’d only had a moment to look at my very up-close photos but without me going into too much detail knew the areas of the face that I needed enhancing – namely my eyes (darn those crow’s feet) and my nasolabial fold also known as ‘smile lines’ as they’ve lost some collagen with age, but sadly, that’s for another time.
After explaining potential side effects, like mild tenderness, he immediately got to work explaining that the main areas of focus were the eye area to smooth out my lines and to lift the brow which, in my case, slightly shadows my eye making me look more tired than perhaps I really am. He also explained that he’d be putting some in the centre of the forehead to smooth my frown lines, and then a small amount in my forehead meaning there would still be movement as I lift my brows. This meant I’d be having ‘three areas’ – there’s usually an option of one, two or three all of which come at different costs.
After cleaning and sterilising the area, the procedure begins. The needles themselves are microfine, meaning there is no pain – literally none. It’s quite therapeutic, if anything it feels like a very, and I mean very light scratch. It took under ten minutes for him to administer and, all in all, the appointment must have been no longer than 30 minutes. With no bruising or bleeding in sight, its even hard to tell where the needles have been. It really is something you can pop and do on your lunchbreak, though it is advised that you don’t do any rigorous exercise for 24 hours after treatment.
After the treatment
The treatment itself takes around two weeks to work, however, I started to see results within the first few days of treatment, my crow’s feet were gradually reducing, and it was a little stiffer to frown. Two weeks on and I was invited back to a follow up appointment – this allows Dr Benji to check that both parties happy with the result – which we both were, and results are expected to last between three and four months.
I’m now five weeks on from my initial appointment and I’m still truly happy with the results. There isn’t a crow’s foot in sight, I’m so happier when I catch sight of myself and feel as though my make-up goes on a lot smoother. Define Clinic truly are masters at work, and I can’t wait to return in a few months’ time and maybe add a little filler too.
Factbox
Prices start from £199 for one area.
Address: Wendover House, 24 London End, Beaconsfield, HP9 2JH
Tel: 01494 932700
Website: defineclinic.com
