What I Actually Do: My Pre and Post-Holiday Treatment Routine
One of the questions patients ask me all the time is: “But what do you actually have done?”
And I understand why.
We have a clinic full of technology and treatments, each designed to address different concerns. Just as I would with a patient, what I choose for myself depends on what I am noticing, what I would like to improve and what is right for me at that particular time.
Before my summer holiday, there were a couple of things I wanted to work on. Now that I am back, I have noticed a few others. Some I will treat. One, for now, I absolutely won’t.
So, this is what I have actually been doing, and why.
Emsculpt Neo before my holiday: before the bikini came out…
I am a huge believer in maintaining muscle and strength as we get older.
As many of my patients know, I swear by Reformer Pilates at Heartcore and it is a very important part of my routine. But alongside that, I have been using Emsculpt Neo on my abdomen and buttocks.
Like a lot of women, I have noticed changes in my body as I have got older. One of the things that was bothering me was that I felt my bottom had become flatter. I wanted a little more lift and shape, as well as more definition through my abdomen, so those were my particular goals with Emsculpt Neo.
It doesn’t replace my Pilates, and I wouldn’t want it to. I see the two working alongside each other. I put the work in at Heartcore, and Emsculpt Neo gives me that extra help with muscle definition and contour that I am looking for.
And while I was having my Emsculpt Neo, I managed to squeeze in another bit of pre-holiday multitasking: Softwave on my upper arms.
This was a different concern. I had started to notice a little more looseness and crepiness in the skin on my upper arms, so here my focus was on skin quality and firmness. Sofwave stimulates collagen within the skin, which made much more sense for what I was seeing in that area.
I think that’s quite a good example of why I don’t look at the body as one single concern. Sometimes it is muscle, sometimes it is skin, sometimes it is cellulite, and often it is a combination of things.
By the time I went away, I could genuinely see and feel a difference. My bottom felt more lifted, my abdomen looked more defined and I felt happier with the skin on my arms. Most importantly, I just felt better in my bikini.
And ultimately, that was what I wanted. Not a different body, just to feel a little happier and more confident in the one I have.
Cellution for cellulite: the treatment I wasn’t expecting to love quite so much
I had been having Cellution on my thighs and I absolutely loved it.
Cellulite is normal. Most women have it, including me. But knowing something is normal doesn’t automatically mean you have to love how it looks on your own body.
Cellution was actually one of the last treatments I made sure I squeezed in before getting on the plane to Ibiza. And it was when I was actually on the beach that I really noticed the difference. My thighs looked smoother and I felt much less conscious of my cellulite when I was in a bikini.
For me, that was what mattered. I wasn’t chasing perfection, I simply felt happier and more confident about an area that had bothered me.
Now I’m back, Cellution is definitely something I want to keep up when I can.
Profhilo Hands maintenance: then I noticed my hands…
It was actually while I was away that I noticed my hands were looking a little more crepey than usual. Hands are one of those areas we can easily neglect while concentrating on our faces, and sometimes it takes seeing them in a different light to suddenly notice that the skin has changed.
I’ve had Profhilo in my hands before, and for me, this is simply a sign that it is probably time for some maintenance.
That’s generally how I approach my own treatments. I don’t wake up because six months have passed and think, I must have Profhilo today. I notice when something has changed, and then decide whether it bothers me enough to do something about it.
In this case, it does. So my hands are back on my list.
My sun-stressed skin, however, is being left alone
There is another thing I noticed after holiday: the skin around my inner elbows is, for want of a more medical description, crispy.
Too much intense sun, heat and holiday life have left it dry and unhappy.
Could I start looking around the clinic for something exciting to do to it? Probably.
Am I going to? No.
At the moment, I want to give the skin a chance to recover. Hydration, barrier support and diligent SPF are far more appropriate than immediately reaching for a device.
I actually think this is an important part of aesthetic medicine that isn’t talked about enough.
Not everything needs a treatment.
Sometimes skin needs time. Sometimes it needs skincare. Sometimes something bothers you far less than you think it ought to. And sometimes the best clinical decision is to leave it alone.
Supporting my skin and body health from within
My W-Wellness supplements came too.
I’ve kept up with my personalised supplement routine while I’ve been away because I increasingly think about ageing, skin and body health as one interconnected picture.
What I do in the clinic is only one part of it.
For me, there is Reformer Pilates and movement. There is nutrition. There are my supplements. There is sleep and recovery. And then there are treatments such as Emsculpt Neo, Cellution ou Profhilo when I think they have something worthwhile to add.
I don’t expect one of those things to do the job of all the others.
So, what am I doing after my summer holiday?
I’m not coming back from holiday with an enormous “fix everything” list.
I’ll continue my Reformer Pilates. I’ll keep up Emsculpt Neo et Cellution where I can because I’m enjoying the results. I’ll book my Profhilo Hands maintenance because I can see that it’s due. I’ll continue my supplements.
And I will leave my crispy elbows alone.
Perhaps that is the real answer when people ask me what treatments I have myself.
I don’t do everything available to me. I do the things that make sense for me, when they make sense for me.
That’s exactly how I think aesthetic medicine should be.
Écrit par Dr Preema Vig, directeur médical du Dr Preema London Clinc
