McKeown Medical
167 Bath Street, Glasgow, G2 4SQ
Date posted — 5.10.24
As always in medicine, the best treatment is prevention – which means avoiding the sun as much as possible and covering up and protecting the skin with SPF when it’s not possible to avoid sun exposure.
But let’s assume you maybe take care of your skin now, but you weren’t so good in your younger years, and you’ve got some historic sun damage that you want to get rid of.
How do you go about getting rid of that old sun damage on the face and body?
The mainstay of treating sun damage is laser treatment, and there are three main categories of lasers you can use to treat sun damage.
The first category is ablative – which means that it removes tissue from the surface of the skin.
The ablative lasers can then be subdivided into fully ablative lasers – which remove the entire surface of the skin – and fractional ablative lasers, which remove only a fraction of the skin’s surface.
The final category is the non-ablative lasers, which don’t remove any tissue from the skin’s surface.
Let’s start with the non-ablative devices.
My favourite non-ablative way to treat sun-damaged skin anywhere on the body (we most commonly treat it on the face, but we can treat it pretty much anywhere on the body) is broadband light.
Ok, so technically, this is not a laser because it uses more than one wavelength of light. But let’s forget about the physics and think of it as a laser.
Broadband light (BBL) is an excellent technology for shattering pigments in the skin, which gets rid of the brown spots or age spots or areas of hyperpigmentation if we want to use their technical name.
BBL is also excellent for reacting with the red pigment in blood vessels, causing the blood vessels to close down and clear patches of redness.
It is also an excellent stimulator of collagen renewal, improving the organisation of collagen and elastin fibres in the skin, which, over time, improves the texture of the skin’s surface.
BBL is by far and away my favourite treatment to prescribe in the clinic because pretty much anyone over the age of 30 benefits from it. There is usually no downtime at all, and it’s a relatively gentle treatment you can repeat every six months or so to keep your skin in great shape.
If you have more severe changes to the texture of the skin, particularly with fine lines and wrinkles then we need to think about adding in some ablative laser resurfacing.
When the texture changes are more than we can deal with non-ablative laser treatment but not quite severe enough for full resurfacing, then a fractional ablative device is our go-to.
For this, I love the Halo laser from Sciton.
The unique thing about this device is that it combines two different lasers (one ablative and one non-ablative) that fire at the same time, meaning you can target different layers of the skin simultaneously.
We tend to be pretty aggressive in our approach with this, so most patients can expect 5-7 days of downtime, but when your skin is healed, you get the famous ‘Halo Glow’ and continued improvement in the surface of the skin for a few months later.
For the most severe sun-damaged skin with deep lines and wrinkles that are really etched into the surface of the skin, however, we need to get out the big guns – the fully ablative laser.
This removes the entire surface of the skin so that the skin grows back like new again.
It’s an extremely effective treatment that can get rid of even the most stubborn wrinkles, however it is also the most invasive option that most people want to avoid.
For that reason, not many clinics offer this treatment, but for some patients, it’s just the right treatment and the only one that will give them the results they are looking for.
Relfydess is one of the most talked-about and exciting new arrivals in the world of aesthetic medicine — a next-generation...
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Relfydess is one of the most talked-about and exciting new arrivals in the world of aesthetic medicine — a next-generation...
This lovely patient is just three weeks on from her deep plane facelift, neck lift and upper blepharoplasty performed by @bramhallplasticsurgery and she’s been kind enough to share her own selfies to show how things are settling.
She also had full laser resurfacing with Dr Darren three months ago to improve deeper skin creases and texture, helping to enhance the overall result.
It’s still early days in her recovery, but you can already see the impact of combining surgical lifting with skin rejuvenation: a beautifully refreshed look and she`s absolutely delighted!
What do you think?
Find out more about the full facelift at the link in our profile.
Relfydess is the newest toxin on the market and we have been working hard in the clinic to test the claims of the manufacturer. Is it really as good as they claim?
This patient kindly allowed us to test the difference with her: she had Relfydess on the left side of her face and her usual Botox on the right, to compare how the two treatments performed. These photos were taken three weeks after treatment.
The Relfydess kicked in a day or two faster. However, what is really interesting is that on the side we treated with Reflydess she got a good result that didn`t need a top-up, whilst the other side did need a top-up, which you can see in these photos.
I will keep posting more updates as we find them about this new product!
I’ve been treating patients with Relfydess for the past few weeks now, and I was really curious to know how they were getting on. So, we reached out to the first 97 people who had the treatment and asked them how it felt, how quickly it worked, and whether they’d do it again.
In this video, I’m sharing what they told me – and a bit of my own perspective on how it’s shaping up compared to the other wrinkle treatments we have available. It’s still early days, but the feedback so far has been really interesting!
As we approach the summer holidays and get into the middle of wedding season, filler season is well under way! Thank you to this lovely patient for allowing us to share her results following a volumetric facelift, all performed with injections of dermal filler.
Her main concern was the development of jowls and the way it was starting to affect the shape of her lower face. By carefully restoring volume in the right areas, we were able to subtly lift and contour creating a more defined jawline while keeping everything natural and in harmony with the rest of her features.
This is a few weeks post-treatment and she`s absolutely over the moon. What do you think?
Find out more about our volumetric facelift treatment at the link in our profile.
Thank you to our lovely patient for allowing us to share these photos with you.
She came to see us with prominent varicose veins that had been bothering her for years. Just 8 weeks after treatment with VenaSeal™, you can already see a noticeable difference and the results will continue to improve as the treated veins fade further over the months ahead.
VenaSeal™ is a walk-in, walk-out treatment that uses medical adhesive to close the affected veins. No surgery, no compression stockings, and no downtime which made it the ideal option for this patient.
We’re so pleased with how things are progressing already. More to come as her results continue to develop.
Find out more about VenaSeal™ and our other treatment options for varicose veins at the link in our profile.
Another astonishingly great result from our fabulous surgeon @bramhallplasticsurgery.
This lovely patient was bothered by the excess skin on her upper eyelids. Although the surgical procedure itself is quite straightforward, the aesthetic judgement - how much to remove and how much to leave behind - is where the true skill lies, and our Russell is exceptionally talented when it comes to this.
The patient is over the moon with her results. What do you think?
We’re now well into CoolSculpting® season, with lots of our patients booking in to treat areas of stubborn fat in time for the summer holidays!
CoolSculpting® is a non-surgical treatment that uses controlled cooling to reduce fat in targeted areas – with no needles, no downtime, and long-lasting results. It’s ideal for areas like the abdomen, thighs, arms, and under the chin.
For our patients who love their results and want to keep going, we’ve introduced the CoolSculpting® Membership Programme. Once you’ve completed 10 cycles, you’ll unlock access to our lowest rate – just £350 per cycle and you can return for further cycles at this exclusive price, whenever it suits you.
If you`re interested in CoolSculpting®, or have any questions, send us a message or visit the link in our profile.
Been thinking about a hair transplant? We have limited consultation slots with the fabulous Dr Mani available if you`d like to discuss your options for restored hair.
In the meantime, meet Adam. He had his transplant last month with Dr Mani here at McKeown Medical – and filmed this video the very next day with an honest account of why he decided to go ahead and what the experience was like.
We’ll be sharing more soon as Adam’s journey continues – including his results over the coming months.
If you’ve been thinking about hair restoration, drop us a message and we`ll be delighted to chat you through your options.
See more about our hair transplant treatments at the link in our profile.
Heavy periods aren’t something you just have to put up with. They’re common, but that doesn’t mean they’re normal.
As part of our expanding women’s health service, we’re now offering private access to the NovaSure®️ procedure – a safe, effective treatment for heavy menstrual bleeding that can be performed as a walk-in, walk-out appointment under local anaesthetic.
Here’s our consultant gynaecologist @driainmartin demonstrating how the procedure works and why this treatment has been such a game-changer for women dealing with disruptive, excessive bleeding.
Over 90% of women experience a significant reduction in symptoms after NovaSure, and many are able to avoid more invasive surgery altogether.
We’re proud to be the first private clinic in Scotland to offer this treatment.
If heavy periods are affecting your quality of life, we’re here to help.
See more details at the link in our profile.