Beautiful Monday: The Doctor Is In
This week we introduce Dr Joanna Romanowska of Clinic 42 as a regular columnist.
Dr Joanna has been practicing appearance medicine since 1998, and is highly regarded as one of the top practitioners in the field. You can read more about her here. What I love about her is she’s of the opinion that ‘subtlety does it’. You won’t see any trout pouts or immobilised faces walking out of her clinic!
There are a lot of misnomers out there about appearance medicine. It’s an area experiencing huge growth, so we thought it would be a good idea to bring you the facts. Through the coming weeks we’ll go through Botox, fillers, PRP (you might have heard of it being called the Dracula treatment), vein treatments etc. etc. That way you can become educated on just what these treatments are capable of, and make informed decisions (or if it’s not for you, then informed comments).
What is Appearance Medicine?
In actual fact appearance medicine is known elsewhere as cosmetic medicine, and it’s going to become known as this in New Zealand too. It’s different from cosmetic/plastic surgery, which is more invasive and involves major procedures like facelifts, breast operations and liposuction. Cosmetic medicine is less dramatic, should be less noticeable and the results aren’t as permanent. This is a good thing because what may look good on someone who is in their thirties or forties is not necessarily going to look appropriate on an 80-year-old face.
Types of Cosmetic Medicine
- Line and wrinkle softening
- Reframing, reshaping and recontouring the face
- Improving skin tone and texture
- Removing and minimising pigmentation, spider veins and broken capillaries
We achieve all of these things with a combination of different treatments including:
- Good quality skincare with proven active ingredients
- Laser
- IPL (intense pulsed light therapy)
- Dermal fillers
- Muscle relaxants (such as Botox)
- PRP (Platelet Rich Plasma Skin Rejuvenation)
What You Need To Know:
The art of giving cosmetic medicine treatments lies in the experience and aesthetic awareness of the practitioner. A successful treatment shouldn’t be noticeable to anyone but you, the person who has chosen it.
I know this is a field that has had some bad press in recent years due to some seriously overdone treatments. Some of these poor patients come out looking at best unusual, and at worst comical.
Sometimes a person does ask for treatments to be overdone, which can result in overinflated lips, the immobilised expression that is so often talked about in the media, or bizarrely elevated eyebrows. It’s up to the practitioner to judge what is appropriate for each patients appearance, but the onus should always be enhancing their natural features, and minimising the signs of ageing if that is what the patient is after. A natural look is of paramount importance.
The best compliment I can get is if one of my patients is delighted with their treatment, and none of their friends and family have noticed any change in their appearance. Comments from friends and family should be along the lines of ‘you’re looking well or rested’ not ‘what have you done?’
Thanks Dr Joanna!
