After spending the past year in lockdown as a single parent raising my two children, home schooling, working from home, studying and generally trying to figure out what day it is between swimming in mountains of extra laundry and cleaning up after a newborn litter of pups, it’s safe to say that I could do with some serious TLC! So I booked into Vie Aesthetics the moment that lockdown restrictions eased for their famous Selfie Makeover package and I am beyond thrilled with my results!
It is one thing to love your own results and notice such a huge difference in your appearance when undertaking anti ageing treatments, not to mention the confidence boost ironing out wrinkles and restoring lost volume creates at any age; but being entirely honest, I not only want to feel good for myself by taking care of my appearance, it’s also nice for others to notice and compliment me on my glow too! So I held a cheeky poll on social media to quantify my results and put a figure on the number of years my treatment had turned back… the results are quite frankly shocking!
In a rather tongue-in-cheek post I put my pre-treatment selfie alongside my post-treatment selfie and asked viewers to guess the age difference between myself and my sister, only I don’t actually have a sister and both pictures are of me!
For a balanced result I took the first 100 votes to determine the extent of my youthful glow with 29% believing I looked 2yrs younger than my “sister”, a whopping 41% saying I looked 5yrs younger, and incredibly flattering 22% saying I looked 7yrs younger and 8% amazing saying I looked 9yrs younger – to be honest I’d have been happy with looking just 6 months younger than my age, but half a decade for the majority vote it mind-blowing!
I had 4ml of filler in total costing £990.00 as part of the Vie Aesthetics Selfie Package which would have cost £1,200.00 if I had purchased the same quantity of filler individually as separate treatments. I also separately had botox to three areas of my face – my frown lines and forehead – totalled £222.00 along with my chin at an additional £50.00 and filler to my under eye tear troughs totalling £375.00 taking my lunchtime makeover cost to £1,637.00 and instantly knocking 5yrs off of my age to the extent that strangers believed that I was my own younger sister.
Something worth noting as we all rush to book in for post-lockdown aesthetics is that filler should be avoided 2wks before and 3wks after having a Covid injection/vaccination as the Covid vaccine triggers an accelerated immune response causing the body to attack the filler as a foreign object which can create lumps, however botox is unaffected. It’s therefore best to check your vaccination dates before making an appointment for fillers.
Dr Liakas used an innovative new product called Maili from Switzerland to achieve my results which will now last around 9-12 months+ compared to the average 6-12 months of traditional temporary fillers, as always results will vary for each individual. To create this look the Selfie Package involves adding filler to restore volume and definition to the jawline, cheeks and lips with different products in the range used for different purposes.
Maili Extreme/Volume is used for the cheeks and jawline, Precise is for smaller areas such as tear troughs and Define is perfect for the lips. Being innovative in the extended duration of results, Maili is most alike Juvederm Volume, Volux and Volift as a current market comparison; a very popular choice for aesthetics however Maili results are able to last far longer than any other product because they remove free radicals from the skin before being naturally broken down by the body and removed.
Vie Aesthetics always look for innovative products and provide the best service possible, they continuously attend courses and have a close relationship with pharmaceutical specialists and with15yrs experience in aesthetics and 28yrs as a doctor I always feel in such safe hands and experience the most flawless results.
Facial fillers are unisex and can work just as well on men as they do on women, with more men adding injectables to their beauty regime as a way to turn back the clock – and so they should! I believe we should all be free and able to research, understand and find what works best for us in order to look and live however makes us most happy.
I chose to have the Selfie Package because I felt hollow on my face, loose around the jawline and tired under the eyes with fine lines appearing around my mouth, eyes and forehead. From the age of 20yrs volume of the skin naturally starts to decrease as collagen production gradually diminishes by 70% by the age of 50yrs. A person in their 20’s can achieve restorative results with 1-2ml of filler, with 2-3ml required for a person in their 30’s.
It takes on average 10-14 days for full results to develop and the beauty of Maili compared to other fillers is that such a small amount goes a very long way! I would typically have used around 2ml of filler for my cheeks and jawline however 1ml of Maili filler was enough and I love how much slimmer, plump, youthful and more defined my face now looks and feels.
My tear trough fillers will last 9-12 months and reduce dark circles, hollowing and shadows beneath the eye by adding volume and reducing fine lines which can be combined with botox to the crows feet to maximise results. Filler is extended from the trough of the eye to the external corner for full volume restoration with just 0.25ml of Maili needed per eye.
Seeing as I’ve had fillers before I’ve responded much quicker to results which are instantly noticeable and fully visible within 14 days. There will always be some retention of filler over years of use rather than everything disappearing and starting from scratch each time, so it is worth continuously having treatments to keep that base in place.
The treatment itself is completely numb and undetectable as a local anaesthetic injection is used which contains a small amount of adrenaline to shrink blood vessels and reduce the blood supply resulting in less bleeding and a lower risk of bruising which at most will only be a spot instead of potentially a black eye. I have always been a heavy bleeder with needles but I didn’t bleed half as much this time; it’s certainly a procedure that I will request again and perfect for an undetectable lunchtime treatment.
For my lips I had 1ml of filler across the top and bottom lip which typically would have been 2ml from traditional fillers to achieve this same effect. I went for a slightly fuller bottom lip look and love the natural balance that it has created, as well as correcting the asymmetry of my top lip due to lost volume.
At the age of 40yrs+ plus botox is very commonly used to treat the chin as ladies lose bone mass with age and as a result of this the chin can wrinkle creating an orange peel effect. As this is an area of high movement chin Botox results typically last between 3-4 months before needing a top up and the Botox will start to last longer with prolonged use as it prevents movement. I had 8 units of Botox to my chin which is a small amount in comparison to the 14 units to my forehead and 20 units to my frown lines.
Whilst these treatments fit perfectly into my 1hr lunch break and are virtually undetectable, as with all hyaluronic acid fillers there may be some swelling, bruising, localised redness at the injection site, itching and tenderness immediately after treatment but these reactions are entirely normal and are only temporary as a result of the injection itself which generally resolves by itself. Any swelling that may occur can remain for up to a few days but should be completely gone within a couple of weeks post-treatment.
Bruising can be reduced with the application of ice packs immediately following treatment and you should avoid applying make-up to the treated area for the first 24 hours along with vigorous exercise, prolonged exposure to UV rays as well as temperatures below 0°C for the first three days after treatment. I am absolutely thrilled with my results and look and feel so much more youthful and fresh – the perfect way to come out of a year spent in lockdown, ready and raring to go to get back to life whilst looking and feeling my best – I cannot recommend Vie Aesthetics more highly, such flawless results as always!
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