The importance of aesthetic top ups

While it is possible to get a one off chemical peel, ultrasound or laser treatment, when it comes to some treatments it pays to invest in a course or regular top ups to maintain results—a little like you do your hair colour or gym membership.

In the case of injectables such as dermal filler, botulinum toxin and skin boosters, it’s advisable to take a long term view. “As we age, the skin changes, and injectables dissolve over time,” says 111 Skin Aesthetic Practitioner Dr Ivy. “If we want to maintain the results, we need to have a top up appointment within a certain period.

“I always think of aesthetics as being a bit like cooking—you have to add herbs and spices here and there to achieve the best result. With injectables, we consider things in the same way, and as with cooking, timing also plays an important part.”

So how often should you be looking at top ups? Dr Ivy always recommends booking in with your practitioner for a review appointment first, to assess how things are looking.

“Reviews are important, and top ups are quite individual as everyone has different dynamics and it's important to keep up with the way the tissue and skin react after absorbing hyaluronic acid, neurotoxins, polynucleotides, or after collagen-boosting threads. “Time between appointments can vary from person to person, and the exact treatment plan used, but usually we look at between four and eight months.”

Dr Ivy shares that the fillers of the past tended to last far longer than the modern injectables now used. “As the skin ages it can sag, and the longer-lasting products would leave an unnatural result,” she shares.

“As the face and skin change, we want to be able to change the approach, and regular top ups allow us to do this at each appointment. We also want products that are very pure in order to avoid any complications—the hyaluronic acid products I use on my patients are created using DNA methodology and give very natural results, as they are so close to human tissue.”

If you have ever had botulinum toxin or dermal filler before, you’ll know that the eventual cost depends on the quantity of product you need. Therefore, if you are wondering if you will need the same amount of toxin or filler you had the first time round, the answer, says Dr Ivy, is probably not.

“You will almost never have the same amount of toxin or filler the second time round, because the idea is to position the product strategically, and then later look to add more regenerative products into the treatment plan, such as collagen boosters or polynucleotides,” she reveals.

“By doing this, we typically don't need to use as many injectables as at the first appointment. It's a bit like building a house: first you do the strategy and the planning—which in my case is face mapping—after that we create a strong base to hold up the walls, and add the first layers. Beyond that, it's just maintainence.”

Having seen Dr Ivy last year for her bespoke Face Design procedure, I wanted to put her advice to the test and booked in a review appointment. I knew that the results she created first time round were still looking pretty good, but wanted to see if more or any tweaks were required.

And it was good news: Dr Ivy only needed to do a minimal top up using a small amount of dermal filler. “The results were very beautiful and have lasted extremely well,” she said. “I used 2ml of filler, strategically positioned around the mid face and lower face. This will help maintain the results created previously.”

I left with the advice to ideally return every six months for my top up, which I plan to do to keep on top of things. This means my results will last longer, and I’m in it for the long haul.