Breakout-prone skin can be approached in several different ways in my clinic, because I don't believe there is one treatment that suits every type of breakout.
I don't treat every person with the same protocol. I look at what your skin is doing, how congested it is and what we need to address first. Then I build the treatment around that.
I work quite intensively when your skin is breaking out.
I've worked with a lot of breakout-prone skin over the years, and I've found that consistency is incredibly important. I don't want to see you once a month and hope for the best if your skin needs more frequent attention.
The biggest thing I need from you is consistency.
You need to show up, follow the skincare I give you and let me keep working with your skin. If you do that, I can do a lot.
You bring me the skin. I'll bring the tools.
I am a cosmetic skin practitioner. I am not a doctor or a nurse, and I do not diagnose skin conditions.
My role is different, and I have a whole range of professional treatments, products and technologies that I can use to approach breakouts from another direction.
That said, I also know when something is beyond what I can appropriately manage.
If we have given my approach a proper opportunity and we're simply not getting where we need to be, I may recommend that you see a dermatologist. And if your breakouts are severe, scarring or particularly resistant, a medical approach may be appropriate from the beginning.
I'm not interested in keeping you coming back indefinitely.
The goal is to get your skin looking calmer and clearer, and if I need to bring your medical team into the conversation to help us get there, I will.
Please tell me about anything your doctor has prescribed for you, including any skin treatments, before we start.
If your breakouts are deep, painful or scarring, please see your GP or dermatologist as well.
I have quite a few different tools for breakout-prone skin, and I choose between them according to what your skin is doing when you see me.
I might use one of these on its own, or combine several within the same treatment program.
Someone with significant congestion may need a very different approach from someone with red, angry breakouts, hormonal breakouts or mainly the marks breakouts leave behind. Breakouts on the back and chest can also require a different combination from the face.
I reassess your skin every time you come in, so the treatment can evolve as your skin improves. We may start by concentrating on the active breakouts, then gradually move towards pigmentation, redness, texture and any scarring that remains.
I'm not interested in throwing every treatment at you at once.
I want each treatment to have a reason for being there, and I want the combination to make sense for your skin.
A typical program is tailored to the skin I'm looking at in front of me. I also take practical things into consideration: how close you live to the clinic, whether you're still at school, your schedule and how often you can realistically get here.
Depending on the severity, you may need to see me two or three times a month, and sometimes as often as five times a month while we get everything under control.
As the skin settles, we can spread the appointments further apart.
A typical program may include quite a lot of Blue Light LED, regular Professional Extractions, a few SkinCeuticals Professional Peels or other appropriate peels, selected low-heat laser treatments and, where appropriate, IPL. I may also incorporate other treatments from my toolkit depending on what I'm seeing.
But I don't just treat what is happening on the surface.
We'll also talk about your skincare, what you're eating at home and whether there are any dietary patterns or other factors that may be contributing to your breakouts.
I'll map everything out for you at the beginning: what we're doing, how often I want to see you and what you need to do at home.
I want you to start seeing a change within the first month, although exactly how quickly your skin responds will depend on the type of breakouts you have, how severe they are and how consistently we can work on your skin.
The work we do in the clinic is only part of the equation. What you do at home between appointments matters enormously.
I'll put you onto a very specific home-care routine based on your skin. I don't believe in giving someone ten products and hoping they use them all. I want you to understand what you're using, why you're using it and when you're using it.
Depending on your skin, that may include a gentle cleanser, an appropriate treatment serum, moisturiser and daily sun protection, with other corrective products introduced when I think they're useful.
I'll also talk to you about your habits.
How often are you touching your face? Are you picking? What are you putting on your skin? Are you changing your pillowcase regularly? Are you removing makeup properly? Are you sweating heavily and leaving it on your skin? What are you eating? Are there patterns we need to look at?
And I want you to be honest with me.
If I give you a routine and you're not following it, tell me. I can work with that. What I can't do is treat the skin twice a month while everything we're trying to correct is being undone at home.
The goal is to make your home routine simple enough that you actually do it consistently.
I don't have one fixed package because I first need to establish where you are starting, how severe the breakouts are, how often you can realistically come to the clinic and which treatments your skin actually needs.
I know how debilitating breakouts can be. It can affect your confidence, your self-esteem and the way you feel about yourself every single day.
I don't want the cost of treatment to become the reason you stop halfway through.
So rather than selling you an expensive package upfront, let's see where your skin is, work out what it needs and then make the treatment affordable enough for you to actually complete it.
The goal isn't to make money from your breakouts.
Call me for a clear picture of current pricing.
The biggest thing I find myself repeating is you have to commit to the treatments, and you have to be patient.
If your skin is truly breakout-prone, this is not a one-, two- or three-treatment process. You're going to need to come regularly, follow your home-care routine and give me the three months I need to properly turn your skin around.
Sometimes it can be difficult to see the changes yourself because you're looking at your skin every single day.
I'll show you where the redness has settled, where the congestion is clearing and how your skin is changing.
Results vary from person to person.
Yes, but I need to vet them first. Something you're using at home may be contributing to your breakouts, so I want to see exactly what is going onto your skin before I give you the green light.
Possibly. I'll sit down with you and go through what you're eating and look for anything that could be contributing to your breakouts. I'm not interested in putting you on a ridiculous diet. I want to understand what is actually relevant to you.