How far will you go for beauty?

The title of this post is something that I've asked myself a few times - how far will you go for beauty? I used to think I'd be willing to do certain cosmetic procedures, but when I really think about it I have to say I just can't bring myself to. The idea of doing something permanent that means I'll look in the mirror and see a different me kinda freaks me out. That thought alone makes me realise that anything that bothers me, clearly doesn't so much that I'd like to take the risk of changing it.

But having said all that, there's also the question of the 'inbetween' level of beauty.... the botox/fillers etc side of things. This is something I'm a bit more on the fence about. Whilst I feel too young to take the botox plunge yet, I don't rule it out and I'll definitely consider other types of treatment.

One thing I recently did was have a treatment called 'skin needling' from Dermaeraze. The treatment is designed to heal scars and fine lines. Essentially it involved small needle incisions into the skin along the 'flaw' (scar or fine line) to essentially cause it to turn into healing mode and repair the skin.

I had the treatment on my eye area to help soften some fine lines. I'm not a fan of needles at all - and the idea of going 'to the next level' essentially with beauty treatments did make me very nervous. The treatment itself reminded me of when I went with a friend to a tattoo parlour - that sort of vibrating needle thing. 

Numbing gel was applied first so it didn't hurt at all, but there is something uncomfortable about needles near the eye. The aspect I found the worst was the healing time after - naturally the skin is red and can develop scabs. So I felt very self conscious for almost a week after the treatment and wore much heavier make-up to cover up than I normally would.

Results wise, I'm happy with it. I definitely feel like my eyes look better than before. Although I feel the results are better on one eye than the other, but the overall results can take a while to show (I had this treatment around a month ago - I wanted to wait to write the post to give it the best chance for healing fully). One thing I have been loving is applying the 'miracle oil' that was provided to help with aftercare - a combination of Almond, Avocado and Olive oil - to really hydrate the area (have been also using on my hands) and help it heal. This has been an amazing night treatment for my skin overall.

Overall, I'm happy with the results and happy I took the plunge to try this treatment. But I don't think I'll be rushing to do another needle based treatment yet. I'm just not sure that overall I'm ready for the 'next level' of beauty yet - so will be putting my faith in lotions and potions for now. But this is a very personal decision, if you are perhaps ready to take this next step but not quite sure about botox etc then this is a potential alternative for you.

For more info on Dermaeraze please see the website.

Treatment provided for review.

To botox, or not to botox... that is the question.

Botox seems to be something that splits opinion.

When I talk to my boyfriend, friends and family about it, it elicits pretty much the same response in them all - they think it's ridiculous that such a thing has even crossed my mind, especially at my age. My friends are very good at listening and supporting, but you can see by their expressions that they think I'm slightly crazy for considering the treatment.

But regardless of this I have becoming increasingly conscious of the 'smile lines' that have appeared around my eyes, I've noticed them since my late teens but over the last year or so have become worse and worse. Don't get me wrong, I have no problem with having some character on my face but the fact that I can see these lines starting to move further down onto my cheeks makes me very self conscious.

Moving towards using injectable solutions isn't a first solution, I have been using anti-ageing eye cream since I was about 21 and obsessively hydrate the eye area (I have been using a couple of fairly impressive products recently that I will blog about soon). But I also know that the problem isn't easy to tackle as I'm confident it's genetic - I hope my siblings wont mind me mentioning this... but my younger brother (who is 19) and my older sister (in her 30's) have similar fine lines in the same places. Whilst this may be expected post 30, but when my teenage brother has the same thing and I do in my mid twenties it's fairly safe to say that there must be something genetic behind it (none of the three of us smoke by the way).

So anyway, long story short is that I have premature wrinkles under my eyes, it's making me self conscious and I want to do something about it. Not something so others will notice, just something so I can feel and see the difference.

This is where The Private Clinic of Harley Street steps in. I was contacted by their PR a while ago asking if I wanted to ask their expert some questions and ended up booking a consultation appointment to have a chat with a nurse about skin and ways to treat the problem. I had no hesitation in going for a chat with the nurse - until I found myself walking down the infamous Harley Street thinking about needles and scalpels and all sorts of horrendous 'extreme surgery programmes'....

Of course that was just my overactive imagination kicking in. When I walked into the Clinic I found it welcoming and luxurious without feeling too 'clinical'. Staff were friendly and didn't look like blown up Barbie dolls - so that was nice.

I sat in the chandelier-clad waiting room filling out a form and noted that the other patients all looked very normal - not a sunglasses wearing celeb-type with suspiciously bruised nose in sight. There were a couple of men and about three women waiting to be seen.

The nurse, Wendy, came to find me and took me through to a treatment room for a consultation (this isn't the usual setting - they have dedicated consultation rooms but they were all booked) and we sat down for a chat. Wendy had a look at the lines I have mentioned and explained the different options - covering costs, pain factor, the amount of recovery time needed and any risks associated.

Wendy recommended that botox would be the cheapest and most effective solution to soften the lines and prevent them from getting deeper as my collagen levels in my skin deplete with age. She also covered another injectable solution of hyalauronic acid (an intense moisturiser - like the Dermalogica one I recently reviewed) but this needs more frequent treatment and costs more per time.

I was given ample time to ask questions and didn't feel rushed at all. I was offered the chance to book in for treatment that afternoon if I wanted - but not put under pressure to do so. I chose to go away and think about it before committing.

I think that going along for a no-commitment consultation is an excellent idea if you are considering something such as botox, or even surgery. It's a way to get all the answers you need to make sure you are informed enough to make the choice to go ahead or go another route - and as I said, I didn't feel pressured either way.

Now the tough choice is - which road do I go down....

Skin treatment consultations at The Private Clinic Harley Street are free of charge. For more information please visit http://www.theprivateclinic.co.uk/ or call 0800 599 9916