Why use skincare if you’re just going to get injectables?
Had this question after getting undereye filler yesterday-
Let’s dive in!
First of all, having injectables is a choice and you absolutely don’t have to!
You can also just get it once then stop whenever.

Skincare and skincare ingredients can and do change the way lots of things in your skin behave.
Retinoids can help organise the structural proteins and signal skin to hydrate itself, for example.
This means skin looks more plump and bouncy.

They can also signal cells to turn over more quickly, which is great if you’re at an age where turnover slows down. Again, this leads to smoother looking skin and minimised pore appearance, over time.
Like 1-6 months plus.

Our minds see uneven skintone and pigmentation as older skin, too, so targeting hyperpigmentation and undoing sun damage can be done with skincare and in-clinic treatments such as laser, peels, IPL (depending on which one you are the right candidate for, ask your clinician)

Anti-wrinkle injections, on the other hand, block the signal between the nerve and the muscle.
This prevents it from contracting, changing the way the treated area moves. I swear by it for my tension headaches,
But as far as lines go,

It means you can’t repeatedly make the same line-forming expression.
A wrinkle forms because of expression& because of loss of elasticity in the skin.
(ie, it’s not bouncing back after frowning like it used to)
By freezing the muscle and using skincare you can treat both causes!

Fun fact, this nerve block also prevents sweating!
So you can have antiwrinkle/botox/dysport and it will minimise a sweaty forehead
People get it in their underarm too!

Re filler, we’re usually treating lost volume in the face (or even hands!)
In our cheeks, we have fat pads under our skin that move and shrink as we age.
Well-placed filler just replaces the look of it, giving support to the skin which might otherwise look sunken or slack.

In lips, they thin in appearance as we age due to loss of structural proteins (ie collagen) and loss of hydration (skin has less hyaluronic acid in it as we age, the joy)
The muscles around the lips also get stronger and pull them inward (that’s what “lip flip” botox treats)

So filler can re-volumise and rehydrate lips (as it’s usually just modified hyaluronic acid)
This isn’t really something you can do with skincare.
But if you find anything one day, sign me up!

Altogether, in-clinic treatments and skincare can work nicely together, but one will never replace the other.
Hope that makes sense!

H x

Quick addendum -
1. We don’t shame people for getting treatments
2. We don’t shame people for not getting treatments either
3. These are medical procedures and no one is obligated to disclose
4. That being said, not cool to insist it’s skincare only when it’s not...
Can’t win