It has been quite the stellar journey for Dr Leah Clinics since our founder's victory in the BBC's The Apprentice in 2013 and her subsequent establishment of her first central London Moorgate clinic, co-owned by Lord Sugar. With the first  clinic having been a roaring success, it shouldn't exactly be a surprise that Dr Leah has now opened her second clinic in Loughton, Essex - and even less surprising that Lord Sugar himself was there to cut the ribbon.

The Dr Leah brand has powered to success in recent years on the back of world-leading cosmetic treatments and a remarkable standard of all-round service. This made the recent Essex clinic opening the perfect opportunity to reflect on the business's significant growth to date, as well as its hopes for the future. Sure enough, the evening at the new clinic at 14 York Hill Road proved a brilliantly inspiring one for all of those involved in the story of Dr Leah Clinics so far.

The opening was marked by an interview with the "skincare Queen" herself in the Evening Standard, in which she waxed lyrical about the "fantastic" Essex area, some of the exciting treatments that the new clinic will be offering and even her hopes that famous local Lord Sugar may finally pop in for treatment!

Several treatments exclusive to Dr Leah's Essex clinic

As Dr Leah explained in her newspaper interview, "I have always been passionate about skin but also about the aesthetics industry, and when I realised that the industry was wholly unregulated, I saw an opportunity to create a chain of clinics where both men and women could undergo cosmetic treatments in a safe clinical environment, but also in a convenient location and for a reasonable price."

Dr Leah also revealed that the clinic would be offering several new  treatments, including hair transplants, the Dr Leah Lift which combines the latest in cutting edge lifting techniques for a complete non-surgical facelift and the world-exclusive 3D Bespoke LipoMed Fat Busting treatment. The latter is a renowned liposuction alternative combining advanced HIFU with shockwave therapy technology for the quicker and more effective treatment of fat and cellulite.

Such a comprehensive fat reduction and body-contouring treatment is made possible by a bespoke machine that has been developed specifically for Dr Leah Clinics in exclusive collaboration with 3D-lipo Ltd, removing the need for surgery or downtime.

Great achievements already - but an even more enthralling future

Alongside these renowned treatments, Dr Leah's Essex clinic will continue to offer all of the same treatments as the established London Moorgate clinic, in order to ensure the same consistently high quality experience across both sites.

Appointments are able to be booked right now at the brand new Essex clinic as well as at London Moorgate, so if you are looking to become a whole new, more confident you in 2016, our entire team here at Dr Leah Clinics simply can't wait to hear from you!

We’re now well into awards season and the Oscars are fast approaching. Many hours of careful pampering will have gone into the stars you’ll see on the red carpet. So, what are their secrets? Here are five ways you can give yourself the flawless look of a glamorous silver screen star.

Make sure your diet is up to scratch

We all know as the dark nights creep in the craving for comfort food starts and most of these foods are sugar and carbohydrate rich. The American Academy of Dermatology have suggested that consumption of high GI foods such as biscuits, sugary drinks, white rice, bread and pasta can trigger a cascade response that can lead to acne, ageing and inflammation. They also reported a weak but possible link between diary and acne.

Look and feel your best by keeping your skin healthy from inside and out, look out for yellow and orange foods and those high in Vitamin A.  Also salmon and fresh water fish are high in omega 3 and essential fatty acids which your skin needs to keep it healthy, hydrated and glowing.

Don’t overlook the cosmetic benefits of microdermabrasion

If you’ve got a big event planned prep your skin with microdermabrasion, a one off half-hour treatment can immediately result in a revitalised and more glowing complexion that even JLo would envy. Microdermabrasion removes dead skin cells, which also allows make-up to sit better on the skin for a flawless look all evening. We recommend a series of microdermabrasion treatments once a month to achieve optimum results.

Consider laser treatment for reducing redness

Laser sessions have also attracted acclaim among beauty professionals in recent times as a means of calming down acne and redness. Who would have imagined that mere spectrums of light would make such an immense difference to one's appearance?

If your skin routinely looks redder than you think it should, it’s possible that you are suffering from broken blood vessels on the face – or, to use the technical term, telangiectasia. We have recently dedicated a blog post to explaining this common condition and how we can use advanced laser treatment to banish it.

Get the Kate Winslet look with facial treatments

Kate Winslet, who has been nominated for Best Supporting Actress at this year’s Oscars for her role as Joanna Hoffman in the biopic Steve Jobs, is bound to look fresh-faced on the red carpet. That’s because she is a facial fan – and there’s a wide range of facials that we at Dr Leah can provide. These include anti-ageing and skin tightening treatments.

Don’t leave it too late

Remember the prep for a red carpet event begins weeks before! Consider inch loss treatments before a big event, one treatment a week for 6 weeks in the lead-up to an event will allow for optimum results. We use targeted ultrasonic waves to destroy fat cells without harming any other cells in your body, meaning you will lose measurable inches to fit into that perfect little black dress, leaving you to feel confident and enjoy your event! 

Broken blood vessels and redness on the skin are a part of life that many people have to deal with – especially as they age or if they suffer from inflammatory skin disorders such as rosacea. The technical term for these broken blood vessels on the face is telangiectasia – but they can also be referred to as thread veins, spider veins, broken capillaries, or simply redness.

These broken blood vessels are tiny capillaries near the skin’s surface that have broken after being overworked and dilating too much. Look closely at your face and you may see them – they typically appear around the chin, nose and cheeks. Unfortunately, once broken blood vessels appear, it can be very difficult to get rid of them.

What can cause broken blood vessels?

We often explain to our clients at the Dr Leah Clinic that capillaries are constantly dilating and contracting and, with over-stimulation, can eventually break, as the vessels are thin and fragile. This is much like if you were to continually stretch an elastic band – eventually, over time, it would just snap.  This can occur naturally; however, there are numerous factors that can contribute to increased damage to your capillaries, including:

• Genetics, as with hereditary haemorrhagic telangiectasia
• Hormones
• Inflammation
• Rosacea
• Illness

Additional lifestyle factors include:

• Excess sun exposure
• Sunburn
• Sun beds
• Smoking
• Harsh weather conditions
• Extreme temperatures
• Stress
• Over-processing the skin with harsh products
• Excess spicy foods or caffeine

So, what can be done to treat broken blood vessels?

Remember that prevention is always better than cure. So, take a look at what you can change in your lifestyle to prevent broken capillaries occurring in the first place, and always ensure that you are daily slapping on adequate broad spectrum SPF 30 suncream to protect from damaging UV rays. However, you can never completely prevent these broken veins from appearing – and some people already have many present. This is where we at the Dr Leah Clinic can help you.

To tackle the issue of broken blood vessels, we offer the latest and most up-to-date AFT technology; this is a fourth generation IPL laser treatment that penetrates deep into the skin, shattering and destroying the broken capillaries. These broken capillaries are then removed by the body’s lymphatic system, leaving a more clear and flawless complexion.

This powerful and effective laser treatment takes just 30 minutes, and does not either require anaesthetic or, unlike traditional ablative laser resurfacing, burn the skin's outer layer. As a result, redness and downtime are minimised.

We usually recommend 3 treatments at 4 week intervals. We also recommend, to complement your skin health, gentle home care products containing key soothing ingredients to help minimise redness and strengthen capillary walls.

Book with Dr Leah to treat your redness concerns and get a FREE TREATMENT WORTH £250

If you want to get rid of those thread veins and redness for good, contact us now to take advantage of our February offer. Purchase 2 laser rejuvenation treatments and receive the 3rd FREE – worth up to £250. This offer is especially useful given that 3 treatments are usually required for the optimum results.

Hyperpigmentation can be referred to by many different names including dark spots, age spots, sun spots or just simply uneven skin tone. Regardless of how you refer to this complex skin condition, one thing remains the same - most people who suffer from hyperpigmentation want to reduce or remove it and some are not even sure how it got there in the first place.

Common causes of hyperpigmentation

The signs of hyperpigmentation are certainly easy to spot - they're those brownish patches that give you an uneven skin tone and become more numerous as you get older.

Such dark spots can appear on the face as well as on the hands, shoulders and décolletage, there are many different causes of this common skin concern but the most common are sun exposure, hormones or inflammation.

Sun exposure

The sun’s rays penetrate your skin and stimulate your pigment cells, which are called melanocytes, to produce the pigment known as melanin. This is the skins way of protecting itself from harmful UV rays that can cause damage to cells and even lead to cancer. However, with over exposure to UV these melanocytes go into overdrive and start to produce too much pigment (melanin) which results in an uneven, mottled appearance on the surface of the skin.

Such spots can surface seemingly out of nowhere, although they aren't necessarily as random as may first appear, it is the accumulation of damage from the UV to the melanocyte over many years that eventually leads to dark spots being visible on the skin. It can take as long as 20 years for this damage to take place, which is why most people start to notice them later 30’s, a broad spectrum SPF 30 should be worn daily all year round to prevent this. Worryingly, there is an increase in people much younger concerned with dark spots, this is due to over exposure to sun without adequate protection in the quest for the perfect tan or over use of sunbeds. Luckily pigmentation caused from UV tends to be the easiest to treat.

Hormones

Hormones can wreak havoc with our skin, especially when they fluctuate and change dramatically. This is usually due to factors such as pregnancy, menopause or even severe levels of stress. Change in hormone levels can cause the melanocytes in our skin to become overactive. One example is Melasma or “the mask of pregnancy” as it is sometimes known. This is when pregnant women experience darkening of their skin across their cheeks, forehead and upper lip due to the surge of hormones in their body. Their skin can return to normal once their hormones settle but often they will require treatment to clear it completely, especially if they have been exposed to the sun at the same time.

 There are other common potential causes of hyperpigmentationsuch as inflammation and such dark spots are usually harmless, being undesirable from a cosmetic rather than medical standpoint.    Rarely, serious conditions like Addison's disease, haemochromatosis and Melanoma (Skin Cancer) – can be the cause and in particular if a mole appears to change in colour, size and texture we would always recommend seeking medical advice.

The best methods for removing dark spots

Recent years have seen the emergence of over-the-counter serums for hyperpigmentation. However, the reality is that unless you are using prescription only based ingredients such as hydroquinone in a safe and tested formula like Obagi the results are going to be minimal. OTC serums are great to brighten and smooth the skin, especially if they include ingredients such as Lactic Acid and Vitamin C. However, these ingredients are not able to penetrate the epidermis far enough to really control the melanocyte and tackle the route of the problem, which leads many people to abandon such products.

Using product can often be expensive and timely, which is why many people are looking for an alternative to tackle this hard to treat condition, lasers can be one such solution for fast effective results.

Here at the Dr Leah skin clinic, we know a thing or two about this area of treatment, we offer safe, state of the art, FDA approved laser technologies to reduce or completely remove dark blemishes.

This pigment busting laser treatment takes just 30 minutes, does not require anaesthetic and unlike traditional ablative laser resurfacing, does not burn the skin's outer layer, thereby minimising redness and downtime. It involves the exposure of a dark spot or pigmented lesion to short pulses of visible light, causing the melanin to shatter and the pigment to be absorbed by the body.

The outcome is less visible or even completely destroyed dark patches, leaving you with brighter, clearer and more even skin tone and with it, greater self-confidence.

Talk to Dr Leah about hyperpigmentation treatment and get a FREE TREATMENT WORTH £250

If you want clear, radiant, youthful skin, contact us now to take advantage of our February offer - purchase 2 Laser Rejuvenation treatment and receive the 3rd FREE worth up to £250 - especially useful given that three treatments are usually required for the optimum results.

Don't hesitate! Our cosmetic experts here at the Dr Leah skin clinic can help to make 2016 the year of a much better-looking, happier and more confident you.

Click here to find out more and book a FREE consultation!

With Christmas just around the corner we thought it would be the perfect time to let you know our top 3 gift ideas all available at the Dr Leah Clinic.

1) Dr Leah Bespoke facial

Spoil someone special this Christmas (or yourself) with a Dr Leah Bespoke facial. This luxury facial uses a combination of innovative technologies to brighten, firm and rehydrate. With instant results and long term skin regeneration benefits this is a perfect skin pick me up pre or post the party season.

https://www.drleah.co.uk/facial-rejuvenation/dr-leah-bespoke-facial

2) The Gift of Great Skin

This Christmas, give someone the gift of great skin that will last way beyond Christmas Day with a Dermaquest skin care gift set. DermaQuest collections provide luxury care with hydrating and protective ingredients that are vital for maintaining skin integrity. As Christmas is a time for giving, we will give you a voucher for a free Merry Berry Christmas facial worth £80 when you purchase two or more Dermaquest products which means your gift keeps on giving.

3)  Let them Choose – Dr Leah Christmas Gift Vouchers

 Sometimes no matter how hard you try, deciding on what to buy can be tricky. Here at Dr Leah’s Clinic we offer a wide range of innovative cosmetic treatments for both face and body all of which are tailored to individual needs and carried out by a highly-qualified team who are dedicated to providing outstanding customer service.  So why not purchase some Dr Leah Christmas Gift vouchers which are beautifully wrapped and can be delivered directly to a friend or loved ones door and let them choose the treatment they deserve.

To purchase any of our top gift recommendation please call 02078775999 or email info@drleah.co.uk