Home Life Style The Signs of a Bad Cosmetic Job: From Subtle ‘Puffs’ to Mr. Spock’s Eyebrows, Here’s How You Know, and If That’s YOU, Here’s How to Fix It

The Signs of a Bad Cosmetic Job: From Subtle ‘Puffs’ to Mr. Spock’s Eyebrows, Here’s How You Know, and If That’s YOU, Here’s How to Fix It

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A super smooth forehead is a sign that you have 'worked', while a good aesthetic doctor will leave you with movement and some subtle lines.

Let’s be honest: we’ve all thought, ‘What the hell has he done to his face?’ when applauding someone’s strangely distorted features.

With non-surgical ‘tweaks’ more popular than ever (plastic surgeons alone performed 19.1 million non-surgical procedures in 2023 in the UK), the chances of things going wrong, either dramatically or slight, are also inevitably increasing.

Of course, there are personal tastes too: what you consider “weird” may be someone else’s idea of ​​”fabulous.”

So what are the most common telltale signs that an adjustment has been done poorly or too enthusiastically? And what can you do to correct them?

We asked some of the UK’s top cosmetic doctors…

A BRIGHT FOREHEAD LIKE A BOWLING BALL

A super smooth, shiny forehead that looks out of sync with the rest of the face is a classic case of excessive neurotoxin injection (like Botox).

No face is completely free of texture, so a good cosmetic doctor will leave you with movement and some subtle lines, but there are those who don’t.

A super smooth forehead is a sign that you have ‘worked’, while a good aesthetic doctor will leave you with movement and some subtle lines.

Additionally, some neurotoxins are “longer acting and spread more easily under the skin,” according to Knightsbridge-based Dr. Wassim Taktouk.

“Azzalure, for example, is less ‘content’ than Botox,” he says. “If a practitioner does not realize this, he may accidentally overdo it.”

Your doctor will tell you which toxins they work with if you ask and how long the one they use will last.

THE SOLUTION: Toxin injections cannot be reversed, but they last an average of four months, so you won’t have to wait too long if it’s not what you want. In the meantime, try a mattifying face primer like Mii Shine Control Face Primer, £21.25 (miicosmetics), to minimize the shine on your forehead.

A PUFFY PILLOW FACE

If too much filler is injected everywhere, or when small amounts of filler add up to too much with repeated treatment, the face may suddenly appear too large.

‘I notice that people who are in the public eye often want fillers to perfect their jawline when seen in profile. What they don’t realize is that, from the front, this can make their face look rectangular and large,” says Dr. Taktouk.

Repeated use of biostimulant fillers such as Sculptra, which plumps the skin over many months as collagen is increased, also carries the risk of altering facial proportions.

THE SOLUTION: ‘If the case is too much dermal filler, it can be dissolved with an enzyme solution called hyaluronidase. But you have to do it little by little and not all at once, waiting a minimum of a week between sessions,” says Dr Ahmed El Muntasar, whose clinics charge from £350 for this procedure.

“Unfortunately, collagen biostimulants are not soluble, so you will have to wait until the product stops working, which will happen naturally as the body eliminates the biostimulant ingredient,” he adds. “But this can take up to 18 months.”

‘CUSHIONS’ UNDER THE EYES

If someone shows what looks like semi-transparent cushions right under their eyes, it means “too much tear filler (used to minimize gaps and dark circles) has been placed too superficially,” says Dr. Sarah Tonks of The Lovely Clinic. in London. It may also be that the patient has poor lymphatic drainage in the eye area, in which case under-eye fillers are not recommended at all.

THE SOLUTION: ‘Remove the filler with hyaluronidase, and if you don’t want to re-inject the filler in the right place, I recommend biostimulant injections which don’t add volume but subtly increase collagen and elastin production to slightly thicken the skin and smooth it. It outlines lines and brightens the area,” says Dr. Tonks.

She recommends a combination of Sunekos biostimulator, which claims to visibly firm and smooth wrinkles, and Rejuran polynucleotides, which are great for brightening dark circles. Together, Dr. Tonks says, they could eliminate the need for more filler (both require a course of four treatments).

Dr. Sarah Tonks, from The Lovely Clinic in London, offers injectable or laser options to counteract

Dr. Sarah Tonks, from The Lovely Clinic in London, offers injectable or laser options to counteract under-eye “pillows.”

ProFractional ablative laser treatment, which opens small holes in the skin to activate collagen regeneration, can also significantly smooth the area and improve dark circles. Up to three treatments, each with a good week’s rest, may be required as the skin will swell and peel before improving.

Injectable or laser options would cost you between £2,500 and £3,500, while fillers start at £695 at Dr Tonks’ clinic.

MR. SPOCK’S EYEBROWS

Unless you’re a green-blooded half-Vulcan, half-human, someone whose eyebrows are raised too high on the outer corners has had an ill-judged ‘Botox brow lift’. Or they may have actually requested the stare, known in the guild as “Intentional Spocking” (after Star Trek’s first officer).

Unless you want 'Intentional Spocking' eyebrows, the Star Trek look can result if too little toxin is injected into the forehead muscles.

Unless you want ‘Intentional Spocking’ eyebrows, the Star Trek look can result if too little toxin is injected into the forehead muscles.

“The appearance is caused by too little toxin in the forehead muscle that lifts the eyebrows, plus toxin between the eyebrows that is injected too high and drags down the center of the eyebrow,” says Dr. Tonks.

THE SOLUTION: “The appearance can be corrected by adding toxin to the frontalis muscle of the forehead (to relax it) and re-treating the glabella muscle between the eyebrows, this time injecting lower,” says Dr. Tonks, who adds that the treatment always requires careful evaluation of each patient’s individual muscle function.

It charges from £395 for toxin injections (whether to correct Spock’s eyebrows or not).

A THIN JAW

A suddenly hollow or sagging lower face may be because high-intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) treatment went wrong.

HIFU is meant to stimulate collagen in the skin to add volume and firm it, but if the energy unintentionally hits the fat layer, this fat can be removed, which means losing supporting tissue and a resulting emaciated, sagging appearance.

Modern surgical buccal fat removal (removing fat on the lower cheeks to achieve a narrower lower face) can also be overdone, with the same result for the jawline.

Dr. Wassim Taktouk says Teoxane RHA fillers can help with a loose jaw caused by a high-intensity focused ultrasound treatment gone wrong.

Dr. Wassim Taktouk says Teoxane RHA fillers can help with a loose jaw caused by a high-intensity focused ultrasound treatment gone wrong.

THE SOLUTION: Dr Taktouk swears by Teoxane RHA (resistant hyaluronic acid) fillers (£595, although prices depend on how much filler you need) “which mimic facial movements”, injected deep under the skin to replace tissues of support.

Dr. Tonks suggests biostimulating fillers (such as Sculptra and HArmonyCa), which can be spread under the lower facial area with a cannula to rebuild and build volume evenly over time.

Her favorite biostimulant filler is a new product called Julaine, which “gives a spectacular result” and costs £1,200 for one treatment (three may be needed). Results will be seen one to two months after the first session and will improve for another six to two years.

lumps and bumps

If the skin shows subtle bumps in strange places, it’s a case of “the wrong formula or the density of the filler injected at the wrong depth,” says Dr. Taktouk.

Paradoxically, Dr. Tonks says, it could also be “a case of someone not getting enough filler.”

THE SOLUTION: “Especially when the skin is quite thin (which may be genetically),” says Dr. Tonks, “rather than removing fillers with hyaluronidase and ending up back to square one, I prefer to mix them with a cycle of Profhilo or Profhilo biostimulants. Structure”. , whose skin subtly smooth.’

It charges from £1,555 for a recommended four-session course.

PIGMENTATION PROBLEMS

Ablative laser work (skin peeling) done too aggressively for a person’s skin type or color can leave behind post-inflammatory hyperpigmentation (PIH, which causes dark spots or patches) and hypopigmentation (white spots).

THE SOLUTION: You have to play the long game (and carefully), as any additional inflammation will only make the situation worse.

‘I put a patient who had been left with severe PIH all over his body on a ten-month program that included two TCA (exfoliating acid) peels, a hydrating peel, two sessions of Exion radiofrequency microneedling for rejuvenation and Obagi Nu for lightening. pigments daily. -Dermatological skincare,’ says esthetician Nadia Aminian. “It consistently evened out her skin tone.”

The entire lot costs £3,200.

Dr. Wassim Taktouk, drwassimtaktouk.com; Dr. Ahmed El Muntasar, theaestheticsdoctor.com; Dr. Sarah Tonks, thelovelyclinic.co.uk

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