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!

Happily, 2015 has cemented the move towards subtlety in the cosmetic industry – the DailyMail have reported twice this year on two of my very happy patients who opted for a subtle face lift using the revolutionary Silhouette soft threads treatment which also goes by the name “one Stitch lift”. This procedure responds to people's desire for effective anti-ageing treatments that will put off or prevent the need for cosmetic surgery while combating sagging brow, jowls and neck.

One of my most popular offerings, the procedure itself takes approximately 1 hour to perform and involves pulling a thread under the skin of the jaw line and lower face and mechanically pulling it upwards, lifting the mid and lower face to improved sagging. The thread itself then stimulates collagen production to add to the effect.

Natural looking results last approximately 18 months and there is considerably less downtime than a surgical facelift, it suits busy patients who have on-the-go lifestyles.

The “wind tunnel facelift” look of the 90’s is becoming a distant memory with more and more people seeking natural looking results.

Watch the procedure and hear from a happy patient: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X4lkJPbbqh4

Book a free consultation now: https://www.drleah.co.uk/enhancement-treatments/thread-lift

 Before & After

Dr Leah Totton gives Closer the dos and don'ts of the ever popular cosmetic enhancement treatment

http://www.closeronline.co.uk/2015/11/lip-fillers-everything-you-need-to-know  

Kylie Jenner has done for lips what J Lo and Kim Kardashian did for bums. Instagram's infiltration of pouty seflies has come hand-in-hand with reality star Kylie Jenner's transformation from girl-next-door to global style icon and largely responsible for that shift, are her famous lips.

Despite putting her growing pout down to 'clever make up', Kylie eventually admitted to getting temporary fillers- which even started a global #Kyliejennerchallenge selfie online.

And Dr Leah's clinic alone saw a 70% increase in lip filler enquiries in the 24 hours following Kylie Jenner's confession in May this year.

The temporary cosmetic treatment can last anywhere between 6 to 18 months and cost anything from £300 to £600.

Book a consultation today: https://www.drleah.co.uk/enhancement-treatments/non-surgical-lip-enhancement 

How much do lip fillers cost?

"Fillers usually cost £300-£370 depending on which practitioner does them- I charge £370.

Be very wary of discounted prices or group deals on lip filler - I have had to correct some terrible outcomes when clients have had their lips done at cheap rates & the practitioner has then not been responsive to correct the issues."

How does the process work?

"You are consulted by a cosmetic doctor or nurse practitioner and together you decide on the 
 and shape you would like, consent is obtained, photographs and lip measurements taken, anaesthetic cream is applied and when the lips are numb (normally 30 mins later) you will have a series of injections which tend to only take a few minutes.

"You may be given a cool compress after the procedure to reduce swelling / potential for bruising, before aftercare is explained and you are normally reviewed two weeks later."

What do the dermal fillers consist of?

"Lip filler is a naturally occurring hyaluronic acid gel. My lip filler of choice also contains a built-in anaesthetic which makes the procedure less uncomfortable."

Does it hurt?

"It is uncomfortable but I inject the lips from the outside making it much more bearable."

What should I look for in a doctor/ clinic?

"Look for a well known and respected doctor or clinic that you trust."

Are there any side effects?

"There's potential for temporary bruising, swelling, lumps and asymmetry but these side effects are minimised by going to a reputable cosmetic doctor.

And we couldn't help but ask a few questions about the famous (and perhaps not so sweet) Lord Sugar himself.

What's it like being in business with Lord Alan Sugar?

"It's great, he has a lot of opinions which are always interesting."

Does he ever visit the clinic?

"Yes, but not for treatment!"

Who do you think will win the 2015 series of The Apprentice?

"I think there are some strong candidates and I'd love to see another female winner."

Article written by Jessica Anais Rach